Senior climate scientist Salinger takes NIWA to ERA

Senior climate scientist Jim Salinger says mediation with a state-owned science company has failed and he will take his sacking to the Employment Relations Authority.

Dr Salinger was sacked last month from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) last month, apparently for talking to the news media without permission.

He told Radio New Zealand today that mediation talks started two weeks ago with Niwa in Auckland had failed to get his job back.

"Unfortunately, common sense did not prevail," Dr Salinger said. "The next stage is that we go to the Employment Relations Authority".

He expected the authority to hear his case around August.

Dr Salinger's lawyer, Alex Hope, has previously said Dr Salinger should either get his job back on reasonable terms, or get adequate compensation.

The sacking of the high-profile scientist, whose work contributed to a Nobel prize, sparked an outcry and criticism of Niwa.

The Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science said that the sacking was an "extreme embarrassment" for the country.

Dr Salinger said today that his sacking started with disciplinary hearings over alleged "indiscretions" in talking to the media in February and March.

The crunch came after he was on holiday in Greymouth and told television presenter Jim Hickey that West Coast rivers were in flood. He was dismissed on April 23 over repeated unauthorised contact with the media.

Dr Salinger said he was asked last year to "pull back" in terms of his presentation of national climate summaries, to give other people in Niwa a chance.

- NZPA