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Aviation firefighters have called off their four-hour strike on Monday after reaching an “in-principle” deal with Airservices Australia over a new enterprise agreement.
The United Firefighters Union of Australia (UFUA) said the proposed deal satisfies its concerns about understaffing, resourcing and working conditions.
“Aviation firefighters will always put the protection of life first, and we are pleased that our industrial action has achieved our objective of ensuring we have the firefighters and resources to protect Australia’s air travellers when they need it most,” the UFUA said in a statement.
“We thank the media and the community for their incredible support throughout our campaign.”
Airservices, the government department responsible for airport firefighting, added on Thursday night that it would share more details of the deal when employees had been “properly engaged” in the proposed changes to working terms and conditions.
The UFUA voted for industrial action last month, arguing the move was driven by understaffing it said was putting the safety of travellers at risk. Airservices strongly denied the claims.
The surprise breakthrough in negotiations also comes despite a furious row over “leaked documents” obtained by the firefighters union, which apparently showed travellers were at high risk. Airservices responded by saying the files showed no such thing and were already in the public domain.
More to follow…
