Strike hits airport, union flags repeat

Members of the CPSU protest at Town Hall as they walk off the job over the Abbott Government'€™s attacks on their workplace rights, in Melbourne, Thursday, June 25, 2015. (AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy) NO ARCHIVING
By Hannah Edensor


A strike by customs officials caused “bedlam” for international arrivals at Melbourne airport and the union says it may do it again next week.

Passengers who landed on international flights on Thursday morning faced waits of 1.5 hours to get through border control, after customs workers walked off the job from 8.30am.

Airport operations did not resume normal operations until around 11.30am, after hundreds of incoming passengers had faced a lengthy delay to get their bags and navigate border control.

“They’ve just sent a text now saying it is bedlam inside,” Keilor man Greg Lloyd told AAP while waiting for his daughter who arrived on a flight from Singapore.

CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood said the action was a “last resort” for customs officials who are facing the loss of up to $8000 a year in allowances.

“We have thousands of workers facing pay cuts, the worst of those are in border protection with customs officers facing allowances being stripped that mean many will loose $5,000-8,000 a year,” Ms Flood told a rally in Melbourne’s CBD.

“We will see further industrial action next week in customs and immigration and at international airports if the government does not move to resolve these issues.”

There are also strikes at Medicare and Centrelink, causing further disruption.

Ms Flood said the action was a “last resort” for workers.

“Of course we regret any inconvenience to the public but the target here is not the community it’s the government,” she said.

“I find it extraordinary that after a year of bargaining, the government is still refusing to talk when they face the largest industrial action in the commonwealth in 30 years.

“We’ve never seen a government that won’t even sit down and talk.”

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