Telecom unswayed by engineers' wildcat strike

A strike by hundreds of telephone-line engineers will not sway Telecom's decision to change its network division Chorus to an owner-operator model, a spokesman says.

"At the end of the day the decision has been made and the contract finalised," said .

Employees from contractors Downer EDi Engineering were handed redundancy notices following the move to the new model after a 10-year contract was signed with Visionstream in Auckland and Northland. The Visionstream contract also means staff at another contracting firm, Transfield Services, are affected.

The roughly 400 engineers deal with the line network, fixing and repairing lines and installing phone and internet lines at homes and workplaces.

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union spokesman Rob Egan said redundancy notices were handed to staff on Wednesday.

The notices were legal but the workers were outraged and yesterday began striking. He said the strike would continue until Telecom agreed to meet them.

Staff could have the option of signing up with Visionstream but Mr Egan said one accountant estimated there could be a 50 to 60 per cent loss of income for the engineers.

The industrial action affects homes and businesses that depend on the engineers' work on lines. They include the Auckland offices of NZPA and the Newspaper Advertising Bureau, which have shelved plans to move this weekend.

- NZPA