More than 400 lines engineers who maintain Telecom services throughout New Zealand have walked off the job to protest against what they say is a refusal by their employer to offer a redundancy deal.
Engineers employed by a Telecom contractor Transfield Services, of Australia, are losing their jobs and are being offered work as independent contractors.
In July Telecom's network arm Chorus awarded maintenance contracts to another Australian company, Vision-Stream, which said it would offer the engineers work as owner-operators.
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union says its members are striking for redundancy protection.
The strike affects Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Blenheim, Nelson and Christchurch.
Transfield says the company has plans to maintain service levels during the strike.
