Border Force to strike at Australian airports over Easter holiday period

Easter travel plans could be thrown into chaos with Border Force and immigration department staff at international airports across Australia to take strike action on the eve of Good Friday.

The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) says thousands of public servants from agencies such as Medicare and Centrelink will also take industrial action in the week of 21 March to protest against pay offers and rights and conditions being stripped away.

The union is considering a three-week campaign of rolling airport strikes over the Easter school holidays “if the government continues with their attack on workplace rights”.

Australian Border Force officers and other staff in the Department of Immigration and Border Protection will then walk off the job at international airports, freight terminals and other sites on Easter Thursday, 24 March.

The CPSU national secretary, Nadine Flood, said: “There isn’t a major private-sector employer in the country who has had a two-year stoush with their own workforce trying to make workers give up a raft of their existing rights, including family-friendly conditions, in return for a two-year wage freeze and 2% a year after that.

Flood said the cuts were an “Eric Abetz policy special” under Tony Abbott, but the policy had continued under new employment and public service minister, Michaelia Cash.

“Cash has tinkered with, but not actually addressed workers’ genuine concerns at giving up their rights,” Flood said.

“That’s why 130,000 people who work in the public sector still don’t have a new enterprise agreement, almost 85% of the total workforce. They know that they’re better off rejecting dud deals until something reasonable is on offer.

“Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has nearly three weeks to avoid this action, but we reckon it could be resolved in three days if they’re willing to talk genuinely with us about fixing this mess.”