TWU set to ‘bring chaos’ to airports

The TWU will today threaten ‘industrial chaos’ to pursue sector-wide improvements in pay and conditions.

TWU national secretary Michael Kaine. Picture: Stuart McEvoy.

The Transport Workers Union will today threaten “industrial chaos” across airports and the road transport industry as it seeks to ­exploit the alignment of enterprise agreements covering tens of thousands of workers to pursue sector-wide improvements in pay and conditions.

TWU national secretary ­Michael Kaine will push ahead with the aggressive strategy ­despite Saturday’s defeat of federal Labor, which had promised to legislate sector-wide bargaining in certain industries.

Mr Kaine will tell the TWU nat­ional council meeting in Cairns that the union had spent five years aligning 200 agreements covering 38,000 workers to expire next year to maximise the impact of its ­action, including the ability to ­legally strike.

“Today we deliver a warning shot: transport workers will demand sector-wide rates from wealthy companies at the top of the transport supply chain, the point of economic power,’’ Mr Kaine will say.

“We will demand the lifting of standards. We will demand secure work. We will disrupt the companies that flagrantly disregard our health, security and livelihoods. And, yes, we will strike to achieve our aims.”

He will say baggage handlers, cabin crew, waste workers, oil tanker drivers, concrete truck drivers, tippers, drivers in the retail supply chain, drivers of armoured cash vans and others will come together and take action.

The union will this week serve claims on the major airports, starting with Sydney and Brisbane airports, while claims will be served later on road transport companies.

“We will not let the major airports or retailers like Aldi squirm out of their obligation. Those at the top of the supply chain will be held accountable — politically, morally, economically,’’ he will say.

“Between them, the four main airports made over $2 billion in profit last year. Yet on any given day you can have 10 workers toil­ing side-by-side in the baggage room, on the tarmac, on aircraft, all doing the same job but earning vastly different wages and on different conditions. The airports can afford to fix this and we will demand that they do.”

Among its array of workplace policy proposals, Labor had promised to revive the scrapped Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal. Despite the Coalition abolishing the tribunal under Malcolm Turnbull, the TWU will continue to campaign for its return.

“Just because this government has been returned on a tight margin doesn’t change the fact that it has blood on its hands,’’ Mr Kaine will say.

A Labor victory would have made legislative change a little more straightforward, he said, but the union did “not contract out worker power to any political party”.

While 38,000 workers were ­directly covered by the 200 ­agreements, “the number of those indirectly touched is much ­greater”.

“There are very few corners of the economy that don’t rely on transport,’’ he will say.