The public sector union is warning people travelling by air over Easter, or visiting Centrelink or Medicare offices, to expect delays, as it ramps up industrial action in protest over pay and working conditions of 159,000 public servants across Australia.
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On Monday more than 15,000 union members in Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support will begin 10 days industrial action. Staff in 500 work sites will be co-ordinating their breaks so they are all off the job at the same time, which is expected to have a significant impact on already stretched face-to-face and phone calls with customers.
Union members will also distribute tens of thousands of flyers highlighting the government's 11,000 job cuts and the impact on services.
Airports will be targeted on Thursday when many people will be looking for an early start to the traditional break from Good Friday to Easter Monday. Department of Agriculture biosecurity staff at airports, ports and regional centres across the country will stop work at 10.30am for half an hour.
They will also be reading statements and distributing flyers to tens of thousands of passengers over the long weekend. Union members are protesting against the Abbott Government's policy for new staff agreements which they believe will cut their rights and conditions in return for annual pay rises of up to 1 per cent.
Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Nadine Flood said frontline workers did not take industrial action lightly.
"But they have been pushed to this point by a belligerent government that has already cut 11,000 jobs and is now intent on attacking their workplace rights and conditions," Ms Flood said.
The union warns the public to be prepared. "The community is not the target here, but people will be affected," Ms Flood said. "We would strongly advise people to take extra time in travelling and avoid calling or visiting Centrelink or Medicare during this period."
The CPSU had been trying for more than a year to get a sensible outcome for new staff agreements, but the government was refusing to listen. "Staff know the value of their work to the community, and they know how much people need them. It's a shame that this government doesn't recognise that.
"Under this government's unfair bargaining policy, a part-time parent in Medicare will see their real wage cut and lose their ability to negotiate their hours, while a quarantine officer doing tough, dirty cargo inspection work is being told their allowances will be frozen and their conditions cut.
"For too long Employment Minister Eric Abetz has been trying to force workers to accept his unfair and unworkable bargaining policy. Clearly that strategy isn't working. Minister Abetz now needs to take the next step and sit down with us and talk about how we can reach sensible agreements," said Ms Flood.
Senator Abetz said the CPSU's claim for a 12 per cent pay rise was utterly unrealistic and would cost the jobs of 10,000 public servants. He said industrial action would be counter-productive.
"The Public Service and the Australian people understand the difficult financial circumstances that we face as a nation and therefore the offers that are on the table are reasonable in all the circumstances," he said.
"We are in a very low inflationary environment and I'd encourage the CPSU to take a more responsible stance."
Ms Flood said despite year-long negotiations no agreement had been reached in any of the 117 agencies. Workers in Agriculture, Tax, Human Services, Defence, Veterans' Affairs, Environment, Employment, Geoscience Australia, CSIRO and the Australian Institute of Criminology are all taking or planning industrial action.
