"Sudden strike causes chaos at Australian airports"

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Sudden strike causes chaos at Australian airports
Agence France-Presse


SYDNEY, (AFP) - The travel plans of thousands of people were disrupted as a
sudden strike by Melbourne Airport baggage handlers caused chaos at airports
across Australia on Wednesday. 

Qantas said all Melbourne-bound Qantas flights were indefinitely delayed
after several hundred Qantas baggage and aircraft handlers walked off the
job to protest against the airline's employment of 50 non-union casual
workers. 

Unions warned that the strike, which is over an attempt by Qantas to bring
non-union workers into the industry, will spread nationally within days. 

Qantas spokeswoman Melissa Thompson said Melbourne-bound flights had been
stopped from leaving airports around the nation and domestic flights out of
Melbourne also were experiencing rolling delays of up to an hour. 

"This is causing delays around the network," she said. 

The baggage handlers walked out after Qantas moved to introduce non-union
members, including casuals from a labour hire company and overseas-trained
managers, at Melbourne Airport at midday. 

The snap strike followed a stoppage by hundreds of baggage handlers on
Tuesday after Qantas sought to introduce three casual workers from a labour
hire company. 

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) which covers airline
maintenance tradesmen warned that industrial action would spread quickly to
all Qantas sites. 

"It will start initially in Melbourne and I would expect it to spread to all
Qantas employees across the country," AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron
said.

Cameron accused the airline of preparing for a dispute similar to the
crippling 1998 strike by dockers over the use of non-union workers who had
been trained as strike breakers in Dubai. 

"There's been a systematic policy of cost cutting at Qantas for a number of
years and this is taking cost cutting to the absolute peak," he added. 

Cameron said if unions representing baggage handlers, counter staff, flight
attendants, pilots and maintenance workers all stuck together and fought
back against the "outrageous attack" they would win. 

"It's about time the Australian public started looking at this company in
terms of their very aggressive anti-worker approach and the steps that are
being made to take maintenance jobs to Mexico and take other jobs,
Australian jobs, overseas. 

"The Australian public built this company, we believe this company should
have a social responsibility to maximise jobs in Australia."


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