F.O.L. will consider action to halt planes

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34151, 12 May 1976, Page 24

F.O.L. will consider action to halt planes

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, May 11. Industrial action to halt the delivery of 14 New Zealand-built aircraft to a Swiss firm will be considered by the Federation of Labour’s national executive.

The executive, which will meet in Wellington tomorrow, will discuss an overseas report that the final destination of these aircraft is Rhodesia.

The F.O.L. president (Sir Thomas Skinner) said today that the executive would probably want to be satisfied by a reliable source that the aircraft were not for the Rhodesian Air Force. The New Zealand Government was continuing inquiries to check whether the reported Rhodesian link was true. (New Zealand has complied with United Nations trade sanctions against Rhodesia.) Makers of the aircraft sold 14 of their aircraft to the Breco Trading Company of Switzerland at the recent Paris Air Show. The chairman of the company said in March that the Rhodesian link was “rubbish,” and that his company was told the aircraft would

be used in Europe for civilian pilot training. A Wellington union official said today that he had received information which removed all doubt about claims that the aircraft were destined for Rhodesia. The Wellington Drivers’ Union organiser, (Mr P. Kelly), said he had already asked other New Zealand unions to help trace the route the planes would take. “I’m sorry I can't reveal the source, but I can say we have no reason to doubt the information.” he said. “I’ll swear to it.” The Federation of Labour would be asked to ban the shipment of the crated aircraft, Mr Kelly said. The information indicated that Hamilton-based New Zealand Aero-space Industries was well aware of the position it would find itself in if charges of breaching United Nations trade sanctions were proven. The planes would be crated and shipped through either Auckland or Tauranga on a vessel bound for Genoa or Amsterdam. “What will happen there we’re not sure. They might be reassembled and flown, or they might be repacked and sent on by some other means.”

Inquiries were already being made through other

unions whose members were likely to handle the order in New Zealand.

“It is through them that we hope soon to be in the position where we can give the Federation of Labour some concrete evidence,” he said.

“We want to get the manifesto of vessels heading towards the ports of Genoa or Amsterdam some time within the next four to six weeks. “There must be space booked right now on some vessel.” The Aerospace board chairman (Mr L. L. Ford) who is also deputy general manager of N.A.C. was asked today whether the firm had any suspicion about the order when it was lodged by a Swiss firm. “No we didn’t really,” he said. “Although it could have been counted as a possibility, I suppose that those aeroplanes could be used to train anybody. “We understand that the purchasing company was going to set up a flying school. “They didn’t say where they were going to set it up or who they were going to train. “That’s their business. It certainly wasn’t Aerospace’s business,” he said.