A strike set to cause travel chaos at airports around Australia on April 15 has been called off, after successful last-minute talks led to a breakthrough in negotiations today.
Airservices Australia and the United Firefighters Union of Australia (UFUA) aviation branch have been in tense negotiations over a new enterprise agreement for firefighters.
With strike action looming next week, Airservices Australia and the UFUA this week stepped up talks and today a breakthrough was achieved.
“Today, we reached an in-principal agreement with Airservices on key elements of our claim for a new Enterprise Agreement (EA),” the UFUA branch said this evening.
“There is more detail of the new EA to be worked through with Airservices, but while this process occurs, protected industrial action is suspended.”
Details on what has been agreed upon will be shared with firefighters tomorrow. Firefighters will then vote on whether to agree to the proposed agreement. Until then, protected industrial action has been paused.
The UFUA had been seeking better salaries and working conditions for firefighters including a 20% pay increase, upgraded facilities and additional firefighting resources at airports across Australia.
The UFUA alleges that passengers lives are being put at unnecessary risk due to a shortage of aviation firefighters.
Had the strike gone ahead, up to 27 airports across Australia would’ve been impacted causing travel chaos for much of the day. The strike was planned for 6-10am AEST on Monday, April 15.
With the proposed strike just days away, airlines including Cathay had begun contacting customers and offered to waive booking change fees.
The risk of industrial action impacting travellers isn’t over just yet though. Air traffic controllers have also applied for protected industrial action, and are poised to start industrial action of their own as they negotiate a new enterprise agreement.