Airport strikes hit Australia, passengers warned of chaos

The day that air travelers in Australia has been warned has arrived. On Friday, border and immigration workers went on strike for 24 hours to push government to settle their three-year pay dispute. Chaos is expected with the job walk off that started on Friday midnight.

Travelers with flights scheduled on Friday were advised to arrive at airports and ports earlier than scheduled and brace for queues and lengthy delays. While quarantine and airport biosecurity officers would join the industrial action for only one hour, counter-terrorism workers and intelligence officers would not be affected, reports News.com.au.

The salary dispute between the federal government and the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has resulted in about 100,000 airport employees without a new enterprise agreement the past three years. Nadine Flood, national secretary of CPSU, is accusing Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of not talking with the union or doing anything to resolve the impasse.

“No other major employer would allow such a crazy situation to drag on for this long. It’s immensely unfair to these workers, who are ordinary mums and dads who deserve a fair deal,” Flood says. She says the CPSU has been battling the Turnbull government for more than two years by trying to strip the union members’ rights, conditions and take-home pay, reports SkyNews.

Flood and several CPSU members will discuss the strike at Sydney International Airport this morning.