Air staff heed C.D. call

Press, 10 March 1988, Page 1

Air staff heed C.D. call

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor Air travellers who faced disruptions today as a result of a planned six-hour national airways strike were yesterday given a last-minute reprieve when the Public Service Association called off the action in response to requests from Civil Defence The P.S.A. will, however, proceed with plans for a 12-hour stoppage on Saturday which' threatens to ground all flights from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Further stoppages are also planned for later next week.

News of the P.S.A.’s change of heart was announced early in the afternoon — just after Qantas staff in Christchurch had called 180 passengers to advise that their 'flight to Melbourne would leave at 4.30 a.m. instead of 6.30 a.m.

The staff spent the rest of the day getting in touch with the passengers again to tell them that the strike was off, that the flight would leave at the original time, and that they could enjoy an extra two hours in bed. The P.S.A.’s president, Mr Colin Hicks, said the decision to cancel today's strike was made

after Civil Defence authorities advised of the seriousness of the flood-stricken East Cape and Wairoa regions which are still without road or rail links. Mr Hicks said that Civil Defence had been unable to predict the need for aircraft movements from other centres, and needed the flexibility of having all air traffic services in place. A further factor in the decision to cancel the strike was the huge backlog of passengers caused by the weather’s closing of airports earlier in the week.

“The association’s proposed six-hour strike was meant to be an initial action of short duration to try to obtain a resumption of negotiations with the Airways Corporation,” said Mr Hicks. “The weather has made the impact of this strike much more severe on the travelling public than intended,” he said.

Mr Hicks said that the proposd 12-hour strike on Saturday would, however, still proceed. "We hope that our decision made in the public interest will be reciprocated by the Airways Corporation in agreeing to meet us in an attempt to resolve the dispute before the scheduled strike on Saturday,” he said.