Australia: Easter travellers to be hit by airport strike

The largest strike in the public sector's 2 year industrial battle is set to disrupt the Easter travel plans of thousands of travellers across Australia. The first round of industrial action will begin Monday when staff at Medicare, Centrelink, the Tax Office, Defence, the Bureau of Meteorology, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Bureau of Statistics, will strike for 24 hours. Immigration, Border Protection and Agriculture workers will then walk off the job at international airports for 24-hours March 24. A campaign of rolling airport stoppages for several weeks over the Easter school holidays and beyond will escalate the action. The strikes aim to pressure prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and employment minister Michaelia Cash to end the wage dispute with much of the 152,000 public servants. <br/>