KEY POINTS:
Transfield Services has struck a new deal with Telecom, saving hundreds of telecommunications engineering jobs.
Last month, the engineering company said 170 jobs had to go now and up to 1400 were threatened because it couldn't make a profit from its Telecom contract.
Yesterday, Transfield told staff their jobs were safe because it had reached a new "arrangement" with Telecom, which provides about 90 per cent of its telecommunications work in New Zealand.
The move was welcomed by the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU).
Ross Lockwood, general manager of Transfield's telecommunications business, said a new arrangement for the existing contract was satisfactory to both parties but he declined to give details.
The contract expires at the end of next January and a new one still has to be negotiated.
Mr Lockwood said Transfield would become a fully fledged partner to Telecom, rather than just a contractor.
He said Transfield now had the confidence to invest in the business it did with Telecom.
EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said there would have been 1400 redundancies in the new year if the deal had not gone through.
Union members faced moving to a different contractor or taking their skills overseas.
- NZPA
