Strike to disrupt flights at Auckland Airport

Press, 23 July 1986, Page 2

Strike to disrupt flights at Auckland Airport

A strike by airport workers will disrupt domestic flights using Auckland Airport on Friday and Saturday. Public Service Association members — including crash firemen, airport security flight service, telecommunications, and administration staff — have voted to strike for 24 hours from noon on Friday over Government plans to make the airport a company. Air traffic controllers will continue to work but pilots will refuse to fly without the other services. Air New Zealand is advising passengers to alter their bookings if they need to get somewhere urgently. The secretary of the Public Service Association, Mr Joris de Bres, said yesterday the stoppage could be prevented by Government assurances on workers’ futures and airport safety standards. A spokesman for Air New Zealand said from Auckland that international flights from Christchurch could also be disrupted by the Auckland strike. Air New Zealand was sorting out contingency plans and would announce these later today, said the spokesman. But it is believed that Public Service Association member at Christchurch Airport have not considered any action similar to that planned in Auckland. The Auckland Airport workers are concerned because there is no guarantee of jobs in the new corporation, no guarantee that existing conditions of employment will be maintained, no guarantee of continued coverage by the P.S.A. — there are fears that they might lost the annual general adjustment to their wages that public servants get — and there is fear that they may have limited access to union coverage.