KEY POINTS:
As Air Nelson engineers walk off the job from 6pm today, their union plans to appeal the Employment Relations Authority's finding that the airline has not been using illegal strike-breakers.
The ERA issued its decision yesterday, not to grant an injunction against the Air New Zealand-owned Link provider, after the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union claimed Air New Zealand managers were doing the work of the strikers.
The union said today that it would appeal the finding and would ask the Employment Court to given the case urgency.
The airline's staff are seeking a two-year contract with increases of 5.8 per cent and 4.8 per cent, which included catch-up payments to compensate for earlier low pay settlements.
However, as no agreement has yet been reached, the aggrieved staff have been staging rolling strikes for four days every fortnight.
Air Nelson's engineers and flight operations crew have also been refusing to load fish and food on to the planes, de-icing the planes in the mornings, or to work overtime, said EPMU aviation spokesman Strachan Crang.
Air Nelson general manager John Hambleton earlier said he was confident that Air Nelson had complied with the law at all times.
He said the four workers in question were completing work for Air New Zealand, not Air Nelson.
The engineers' strike will continue until 6am on Sunday.
- NZPA
