Airport strikes set for Monday amid deadlock
ARFF: Airport strikesAirline passengers planning to travel over the school holidays are facing a nervous wait over the next 48 hours, with crisis talks between the Aviation Branch of the United Firefighters Union (UFU) and airport operator Airservices Australia remaining deadlocked ahead of Monday’s scheduled national four-hour airports strike.
The UFU said on Thursday there had still been no breakthrough in the negotiations over minimum staffing levels the union is pushing for. These have been roped into the bargaining process for pay and conditions where the federal employers’ hands have been effectively tied by the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) after it sealed a deal with the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU).
Unions outside the CPSU are not accepting the deal because, among several other things, the 11.2% wage rise the CPSU agreed to offset otherwise higher pay for a workplace right to flexible work that cannot be extended to police, firies, tradies and field staff, leaving frontline workers behind desk drivers.
Airport strikes called off as aviation firefighters secure in-principle deal
ARFF: Airport strikes called off
Nationwide strikes by aviation firefighters scheduled for Monday that threatened to ground school holiday travellers have been called off at the last minute after federal employer Airservices reached an in-principle agreement over fire crew availability and numbers.
In a statement issued late Thursday, the aviation branch of the United Firefighters Union (UFU) said the “work stoppage on 15 April will not proceed” and that they “are satisfied that their key concerns have been addressed by the in-principal agreement”.
The breakthrough in the dispute suggests the potent threat of industrial action across the aviation sector may have been enough to tip the hand of senior Labor hardheads to allow pay increases outside the 11.2% over three years that the Australian Public Service Commission negotiated with the Community and Public Sector Union in return for the right to work from home.