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Monday 10th August 2009 |
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About 900 employees of Telecom contractors Downer EDI and Transfield Services went on strike today amid a shakeup over firms that hold maintenance contracts for the carrier’s Chorus lines company.
The strike follows Telecom’s renegotiation of maintenance arrangements which has resulted in Leighton Holdings’ Visionstream unit winning the contract to cover the nation’s northern region including Auckland.
Visionstream wants the engineers to become contractors rather than employees, a status change the workers say makes their positions less secure and will cut their incomes.
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, which represents many of the engineers, says they are seeking redundancy provisions at a time of job uncertainty. The strike affects Telecom's phone, internet and eftpos services from Invercargill to Kerikeri, it said in a statement posted on the union’s website.
Lines engineers for Auckland’s North Shore began their fifth day of ongoing strike action. The union said lines engineers could face a 50%-to-65% drop in income.
Telecom shares rose 0.7% to $2.79 and are up 21% this year.
Businesswire.co.nz
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