NSW: Air passengers at risk over roster dispute: union

AAP General News (Australia)
08-01-2001
NSW: Air passengers at risk over roster dispute: union

SYDNEY, Aug 1 AAP - Airlines and passengers were being held to ransom in a minor rostering
dispute involving Airservices Australia's technical staff, a union said today.

The Communications and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has warned of delays and safety risks
at Sydney airport after the company last night began locking out 20 workers over a worsening
roster dispute.

CPSU Communications Union secretary Adrian O'Connell said Airservices Australia had
ignored an Industrial Relations Commission recommendation that the existing roster remain
in place until the matter was arbitrated.

Instead it had implemented a new roster which union members were refusing to work to,
Mr O'Connell said.

"Management is really holding both the airline operations and the flying public to
ransom over its fanatical desire to prevail in what is a relatively minor industrial dispute,"

he said.

"That's what's incomprehensible."

Airservices Australia technical staff maintain air-ground communications systems that
keep pilots in contact with air traffic controllers.

They also look after control tower communications and navigation and landing aids.

"They're absolutely at the forefront of aviation safety - they're critical," Mr O'Connell said.

Management was effectively taking industrial action against its employees by implementing
the new roster and were not open to negotiations on the matter, Mr O'Connell said.

"We were at the airport yesterday (and) we tried to talk to the managers," he said.

"But this has been driven in our assessment by the new breed of senior management that
have no operational background ... and they don't know or understand the aviation industry
significantly enough.

"They're making decisions in Canberra based on factors totally unrelated to what needs
to be done on the ground and what's required to get the job done."

Comment was being sought from Airservices Australia.

AAP nf/rp/sb

KEYWORD: AIR

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