N.A.C. manager replys to pilots’ claims

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32702, 3 September 1971, Page 24

N.A.C. manager replys to pilots’ claims

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Sept. 2. The N.A.C. pilots’ “withdrawal of good will” was in fact a go-slow, and was unnecessary because a tribunal had been set up to deal with their wage claim, the general manager of N.A.C. (Mr D. A. Patterson) said yesterday. Mr Patterson, who was commenting on statements by a spokesman for the Airline Pilots’ Association, said the "withdrawal' of good will” was instituted on the same day the pilots requested the tribunal to intervene.

He said the go-slow had an impact on both the travelling public and on the pilots* fellow N.A.C. employees. Ground staff had been called upon to work longer hours because of late arrivals, and the fact that the go-slow had not had a greater effect on the public was due largely to their efforts and to those of other staff. Mr Patterson refuted a claim that delays amounted to only a few minutes. “Since the go-slow was introduced on August 6, NA.C. delays of over 15 minutes have increased from an average of 18 a day before August 6 to an average of 68 each day since the go-slow began," he said.

The NA.C. management had always been prepared to

enter into serious negotiations, but the pilots had ■ stated that before any such i discussion,- the airline had to . accept their claim for relaI tivity with Air New Zealand. i “They have made it quite 1 plain that only after this is , accepted by N.A.C. will they discuss other matters pertain- ; ing to their agreement which r are in dispute,” Mr Patter- > son said.

National Airways Corporation pilots have lodged an application to have their 23.5 per cent wage increase heard by the newly appointed Aircrew Tribunal, Mr R. K. Davison, Q.C. A spokesman for the Airline Pilots’ Association said a date for the hearing had not been set. Mr Davison was out of New Zealand but was expected back next week. Pilots would lift their “withdrawal of good will” as soon as the N.A.C. management showed any signs of a willingness to enter into serious negotiations on the wage claim. But it had to be a serious move as pilots had waited 15 months for action on the claim, the spokesman said. The Pilots’ Association has described its action as a withdrawal of good will rather than a go-slow.