Immigration officers walking off the job in biggest strike in 20 years.

Visa services of the department of immigration and passenger clearances at customs are expected to slow down significantly over the next 10 days with the start of “protected industrial action” by the immigration department workers from today through to 26 June 2015.
DIBP has warned that during this period, airports, client service centres, ports, container examination facilities and visa processes will be affected with interruptions to helplines, visa processing services, passenger clearances and customs clearance services amongst others.
Members of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) covering more than half the public service are planning a series of half-day strikes to attend mass meetings around the country to protect their rights, conditions and pay from federal government attacks. According to media reports the union has not conducted such comprehensive industrial action for at least twenty years.
“Many of our members have already taken some protected industrial action. Now it’s time to do more and it’s time to do it together,” a statement from the CPSU noted.
This is an opportunity for you to send a clear message to the Government and Minister Abetz that the public sector won’t accept cuts to rights, conditions and real wages, let alone to the cuts to take home pay some members face." a statement from the CPSU noted.
On 1 July 2015 the Australian Border Force (ABF) will commence operations within the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, which will formally merge with the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service on the same date. It marks a key milestone in the process of change which has seen the Department of Immigration “shift its focus from nation building and migrant settlement, towards a greater emphasis on border security.”
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