Workers slam the agency’s 'double standard' in pay negotiations
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Workers from Airservices Australia have completed a 24-hour strike calling for fair pay and working conditions. A union earlier blasted the agency for its alleged “double standard” in negotiating pay.
Administrative and other support staff criticised Airservices for treating them as “second-class citizens” compared with the way the agency relates to air traffic controllers, engineers, firefighters and those in other technical roles, the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) said.
“This double-standard approach has to stop. Support staff deserve the same job security and other rights, and to get the same pay rises at the same time as other Airservices workers,” said Lisa Newman, deputy national president of CPSU.
Airservices, which manages air traffic in Australia, has inked varying enterprise agreements with unions representing different groups of workers.
The government-owned agency said it is following the federal government’s mandate to set the ceiling on pay increases at 2%. “We have continued to adjust our offer to staff during negotiations,” a spokesperson told The Sydney Morning Herald.
The recent work stoppage is only the latest in a string of industrial actions Airservices has faced in the past month.
“Airservices management needs to show its workers that they are respected by negotiating an outcome that reflects the value of their hard work,” Newman said.
