Strikes Threaten Australia Easter Air Travel

March 22, 2016

Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection on Tuesday joined other public sector workers in a growing strike that will hit air travel at the nation's biggest airports ahead of the holiday weekend.

The strike could severely inconvenience international and domestic travellers as the nation heads into a four-day weekend for the Easter holiday, one of the busiest times of year for air travel.

"Our goal is to put pressure on the agency and on the government to actually talk with us. That's entirely the reason why this is being held, and the timing is because that's the timing that will apply the most pressure," a CPSU spokesman said.

Strikes at major airports, which are aimed at ending a two-year contract dispute between public sector workers and the federal government, will continue after the holiday weekend.

"There's rolling strikes planned from Tuesday next week for several weeks so it's not just about a one week thing in the lead-up to the long weekend, it's actually a longer term strategy," the spokesman added.

Government employees represented by the CPSU say that the government has refused to negotiate with them in good faith.

(Reuters)