Nationwide strikes by aviation firefighters scheduled for Monday that threatened to ground school holiday travellers have been called off at the last minute after federal employer Airservices reached an in-principle agreement over fire crew availability and numbers.
In a statement issued late Thursday, the aviation branch of the United Firefighters Union (UFU) said the “work stoppage on 15 April will not proceed” and that they “are satisfied that their key concerns have been addressed by the in-principal agreement”.
The breakthrough in the dispute suggests the potent threat of industrial action across the aviation sector may have been enough to tip the hand of senior Labor hardheads to allow pay increases outside the 11.2% over three years that the Australian Public Service Commission negotiated with the Community and Public Sector Union in return for the right to work from home.
If the UFU deal is higher than 15% and closer to the union’s 20% starting point, it is certain to raise questions about how the 11.2% deal many public servants who work shifts or have to work in the office have been stuck with the lower number.
The proposed package from Airservices is yet to be put to UFU members but is clearly enough to secure an immediate truce. It is thus likely to be palatable enough for other unions in the aviation sector to absorb and head off other looming strikes.
Neither the UFU nor Airservices would provide numbers on the in-principle agreement, however it is known that management of key federal frontline employers including the Australian Federal Police have been less than impressed with getting stuck with a wage growth offset for flexible work when their officers have no such access.
“Airservices Australia and the United Fire Fighters Union of Australia Aviation Branch have today reached an in-principle agreement on the terms of a new enterprise agreement covering Airservices’ Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) service team members,” an Airservices spokesperson said.
“In recognition of the in-principle agreement, all protected industrial action has been called off, and a planned work stoppage by ARFF services employees on Monday, 15 April, will not proceed.
“The UFU and Airservices will share more details of the in-principle agreement once ARFF services employees have been properly engaged on the proposed changes to their workplace terms and conditions.”
Key members of the industrial movement, including Labor senator Tony Sheldon, a former national secretary of the Transport Workers Union – which won landmark precedent cases against Qantas and Uber – publicly extracted a raft of documentation highlighting future issues with aviation firefighter staffing levels.
Sheldon’s extraction of the documents was a fairly clear signal the APSC’s firm line on a service-wide deal was not uniformly supported, with unions outside the CPSU willing to coordinate their action to achieve outcomes for their members.
