Airport firefighters win right to strike over Christmas holiday period

The nation’s 776 airport firefighters have won the right to strike through the holiday period after the Fair Work Commission extended their window for industrial action.

Airport firefighters have won the right to strike through the holiday period after the Fair Work Commission extended their window for protected industrial action until January 1.

Members of the United Firefighters Union aviation branch voted overwhelmingly on November 2 in favour of two to 12-hour strikes, with action required to be taken by December 2.

Union officials met last week to decide on the best course of action, and applied to the FWC for more time in which to strike.

The 30-day extension granted by the commission now gives the country’s 776 airport firefighters the right to stop work throughout December and across the hectic Christmas holiday period.

Airport firefighters have won the right to strike through the holiday period. Picture: Brendan Radke

Airservices Australia has condemned the proposed strikes as “irresponsible and a threat to the aviation industry’s recovery”.

The UFU is seeking a 15.5 per cent pay rise over three years, 4 per cent more than Airservices is willing to pay.

Staffing levels are also a point of contention with the union claiming airports are 74 workers under what is needed to provide adequate protection for airline passengers.

An Airservices spokeswoman said the threat of strike action over Christmas was reckless and a risk to Australian aviation.

“In addition, it will have adverse economic impacts on many industries, including tourism and retail – and has the potential to put travellers’ lives at risk,” she said.

It is an international civil aviation requirement to have fire and rescue in place for the operation of international flights, and domestic carriers are also unlikely to operate to airports without the essential workers on hand.

In the event strikes went ahead, mass flight cancellations were expected causing widespread chaos.

Any contingency plans would see the job of protecting airports fall to local fire brigades, significantly extending the time in which it would take to attend an emergency.

Australian Airports Association CEO James Goodwin said their members encouraged parties to work through the industrial relations issues constructively to avoid any unnecessary disruption to travellers.

“Aviation stakeholders should be working together to rebuild confidence to the travelling public,” said Mr Goodwin.

“Australians will be looking forward to being able to visit friends and relatives this Christmas without concerns there could be disruptions to travel because of industrial actions.”

A recent fire emergency at Sydney Airport involving a QantasLink Dash 8 only served to highlight the role firefighters played, with the flames doused quickly without injury to passengers or crew.

UFU aviation branch secretary Wes Garrett said a larger aircraft fire would have tested “understaffed” crews at Sydney Airport.

“Aviation fuel fires burn hot and fast and it’s critical that firefighters reach a burning aircraft to mitigate the fire with foam controlling the fire and providing the passengers with the best chance of survival,” Mr Garrett said.

“After the initial three minutes of an aircraft fire, the survivability of the passengers is drastically reduced.”

He said that was why it was critical that aviation firefighting services were fully staffed at all times.

“Every day, hundreds of flights are operating from Australia’s airports without the aviation firefighting protection they need in accordance with international aviation safety regulation,” said Mr Garrett.

“That means that the safety of thousands of air travellers is at risk, and that’s why aviation firefighters are calling for an urgent increase in staffing numbers and major reform to the management of aviation rescue and fire services across Australia.”