EPMU Wins Strikebreaking Appeal Against Air Nelson

Media Release
15 Jun 2007

EPMU wins strikebreaking appeal against Air Nelson

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union's request for an injunction against Air Nelson's use of strikebreaking labour has been upheld by the Employment Court on appeal today.

The injunction means Air Nelson will no longer be able to use Air New Zealand managers or employees to load aircraft and perform other tasks that would normally be done by striking workers, and comes as union members enter their fourth week of scheduled industrial action.

EPMU National Aviation Organiser Strachan Crang says the decision is welcome.

"We believed throughout that we had a strong case against Air Nelson's use of strikebreaking labour to undermine our members' rights during industrial action, so we're very pleased with this outcome.

"Now we've got this injunction we're looking towards the talks with the company scheduled for Monday. Our members are still staunch in their pursuit of a fair deal – we're in this for the long haul."

Air Nelson is the largest Link provider for Air New Zealand and connects most of New Zealand's regional centres with its main cities.

The next round of full strike action by Air Nelson engineers and flight support staff begins at 6pm on Wednesday and will continue until 6am on Sunday the 24th of June.

ENDS

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