Engineers’ Union To Resist Breakaway

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31984, 10 May 1969, Page 1

Engineers’ Union To Resist Breakaway

The New Zealand Engineers’ Union will try to prevent aircraft at Christchurch Airport from breaking away into a separate organisation, the union’s secretary (Mr L. Fortune) said yesterday.

Mr Fortune went to the airport yesterday morning and had talks with the management of the engineering section of the National Airways Corporation and union shop stewards. Mr L. Fernside, of Auckland, who addressed the engineers on Thursday, said yesterday that the union had tried to organise a stop-work meeting at the airport, but had been unsuccessful. The engineers were pleased the stop-work move had failed. However, Mr Fortune denied that the union had tried to organise a stop-work meeting. He said he had gone to the airport to arrange a meeting which would be held next week. His union, in keeping with Federation of Labour policy, was opposed to splinter groups and would try to prevent the aircraft engineers from joining Auckland engineers in forming the proposed aircraft workers’ association.

He said there had never : been any trouble with aircraft workers at the airport until Auckland engineers employed by Air New Zealand tried to establish their own organisation. He denied allegations that his union had not taken an active interest in affairs at the airport. As union secretary he had repeatedly gone to the airport at the request of the three shop stewards there, he said. He also denied that the union had refused to submit the aircraft engineers’ general claims to conciliation. He said that the union had declined, as a matter of policy, to advance late claims, even though there was provision in the agreement for the hearing of such claims.