Kinleith talks start

A union bid to accelerate a legal challenge to almost 400 proposed layoffs of Kinleith pulp and paper mill workers has failed, but mediated talks will open in Rotorua today.

The Employment Relations Authority in Auckland yesterday turned down an application by the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union to send its challenge directly to the Employment Court.

But authority chief Alastair Dumbleton said the authority would begin an investigation meeting in a fortnight, unless the union and mill owner Carter Holt Harvey could reach a mediated agreement in the meantime.