AUSTRALIA's Transport Workers Union (TWU) will strike at all major airports on the continent on Friday September 30 on a busy long weekend for travellers at school holidays and additional volumes of football and rugby league fans travelling for grand finals.

    The union has advised Qantas that 3,800 baggage handlers and ground staff will strike, with 50 TWU delegates holding a two-hour stop work meeting the day before.

    Qantas group executive Olivia Wirth said the strike "hold passengers to ransom" but do not help the TWU come to agreement over a pay increase of 15 per cent over the next three years. The increase is not sustainable in the current economic climate given their high pay in the industry, she added.

    The strike by the TWU forced Qantas to cancel 28 flights and delay 27 flights which caused disruptions to more than 6,100 passengers last Tuesday 20 September. In March 2009 the TWU took unprotected strikes for around four hours in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, causing considerable disruption.

    The Federal Court found in July this year that the TWU and senior officials had acted unlawfully and the TWU was fined and required to pay compensation.

(source:http://www.shippingonline.cn/news/newsList.asp?classname=News)