KEY POINTS:
Striking Air Nelson workers are pledging further industrial action after picketing the company's head office today on the first day of a four-day strike.
Some 60 Air Nelson staff have fully withdrawn their labour and 30 others have begun overtime bans until 6am on Sunday and are refusing to load freight after a breakdown in contract talks last week.
Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union aviation industry organiser Strachan Crang said between 60 and 70 workers and members of their families picketed outside the Air Nelson complex in the city today in protest at the airline's stance on a pay rise.
They were taking action after union members voted overwhelmingly against an Air Nelson pay offer that amounted to an average 3.6 per cent a year over 30 months when the going rate was about 5 per cent.
Mr Crang said the union was 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.
Air Nelson's passenger numbers were up, profits were increasing and the company's share price was rising, he said.
"This is a company that can afford a fair and decent pay rise."
Pickets and other industrial action would continue tomorrow and on Saturday, when Air Nelson workers would be joined by other Air New Zealand and subsidiary employees around the country, Mr Crang said.
Air Nelson general manager John Hambleton said the strike was disappointing but having little effect on operations today.
"It's not affecting the company at this stage."
Mr Hambleton took a brief spell from loading fish this afternoon to speak to NZPA, saying it was an example of "frontline management".
"Schedules are running on time," he said.
"Everything's being completed and people are getting to their destinations, as we promised."
Mr Hambleton said 29 flights had been cancelled over the strike period, which was "quite a small proportion" of the 510 flights scheduled.
He said the airline had chosen to cancel flights "to ensure we had flexibility in the system".
Mr Hambleton said he believed Air Nelson's pay offer was "more than fair" considering the company had instituted a productivity deal which provided up to a further 3 per cent a year.
- NZPA
