Auckland Airport is warning tens of thousands of travellers will have flights disrupted if its emergency services team goes ahead with planned strikes later this month.
E tū union issued a strike notice last week for two 24-hour strikes by the airport's firefighters and emergency responders.
The strikes were planned to start at 6am on Tuesday 24 November and Friday 27 November.
Auckland Airport's chief operations officer Chloe Surridge said the notice covered all 69 members of its Airport Emergency Services team.
Surridge said the airport was required to have qualified rescue and firefighting personnel in place for flights to operate, and flights may be cancelled or diverted if the strikes went ahead.
That would cause "significant disruption to tens of thousands of travellers as well as the airlines, freight operations, exporters and businesses that rely on the airport", she said.
The airport was working through contingency options to mitigate disruption, and Surridge encouraged travellers to check with airlines for the latest information about their flights.
E tū assistant national secretary, Mat Danaher, said the workers wanted pay that recognised their specialist work, and fair compensation for the two five-day training trips firefighters must make to Singapore each year to meet Civil Aviation Authority requirements.
This story was first published on rnz.co.nz
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