Flight cancellations and big delays are expected across Australia when disgruntled Qantas employees and customs officials walk off the job over protracted pay disputes.
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Baggage handlers and ground crew at Canberra airport will stop work from 4pm to 8pm today, unlike other major and regional airports, which will experience two, two-hour blocks.
The strike is expected to impact on federal politicians and their staffers returning home after a parliamentary sitting week, but Transport Workers Association ACT branch secretary Klaus Pinkas said that wasn't the union's intention.
''That's probably a by-product, but the main reason is it works best staff-wise,'' he said.
''It's not about targeting the public or politicians.''
Mr Pinkas said the industrial action was instead about ''getting the message to Qantas'' that members would not tolerate job insecurity and lack of action on wage negotiations.
''Qantas aren't doing anything,'' he said. ''They haven't put anything on the table whatsoever.''
Thousands of customs officers at locations across the country, including international airports, will also take rolling industrial action from early this morning.
The pain will continue for Qantas tomorrow when its aircraft engineers strike for four hours.
Rugby World Cup fans travelling to New Zealand before Sunday's semi-final match between the Wallabies and the All Blacks face major delays.
Qantas group executive Olivia Wirth said the strikes against the airline were attempts to cause maximum damage.
'' [Today's] strikes by the TWU and Friday's strike by the licensed engineers union are a clear sign that the unions are stepping up their coordinated attacks on Qantas and our passengers,'' Ms Wirth said.
Qantas expects to cancel 14 flights and delay another 38 flights for up to an hour.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association said it would follow through on its promise to strike tomorrow.
''We invited them [Qantas] to a meeting ... but they advised us that they wouldn't be attending,'' association federal secretary Steve Purvinas said.
The union called off similar action for Monday afternoon but not in time for Qantas to reinstate the 40 flights it had cancelled.
The union urged Qantas to focus on wage negotiations and not a public relations campaign.
''If they spent half as much time working on settling this dispute as they have counting the hours and flights affected in the last month and bad-mouthing their employees in the media, this dispute would be over,'' Union national secretary Tony Sheldon said. Qantas estimated that industrial action over the past six weeks had affected about 50,000 passengers.
The Community and Public Sector Union said yesterday it failed to reach agreement with the Federal Government during negotiations over pay increases for customs officers.
The public sector union apologised to international passengers and also warned that work stoppages would delay cargo and mail inspection services.
''Customs officers have difficult, dangerous and dirty jobs,'' CPSU national secretary Nadine Flood said. ''They all deserve a pay rise that keeps up with the cost of living rather than the 3 per cent a year the Government is trying to impose.''
The TWU will take strike action in two, two-hour blocks at major and regional airports beginning at 5am and ending at 8pm in Canberra and Townsville.
Customs officers will stage stop-work action in one- to four-hour blocks from early this morning into early tomorrow.
with Stephanie Anderson
