Officials will resume strikes at Australia's key international airports after an earlier 24-hour walkout was called off in the wake of the deadly Brussels terror attack.
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From Wednesday, travellers are being warned to brace for delays when departing or arriving on international flights due to Immigration, Border Protection and agriculture department employees taking part in rolling strikes over pay and working conditions.
The strife is the latest escalation of a simmering industrial feud between Australia's public sector workers and the federal government.
Unionised workers at airports and international cruise ship terminals had planned large-scale strike action for Thursday last week, which threatened to disrupt Easter travel plans.
That plan was called off at the eleventh hour, after a plea from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, following the bombing attack in Brussels. The federal public service's main union - the Community and Public Sector Union - said it would never compromise national security, but had postponed the industrial action in response to heightened anxiety.
Union secretary Nadine Flood said the decision to postpone last week's strikes were made in good faith and recognition of the "understandable concern of travellers" on one of the busiest days of the year".
Strikes will now recommence on Wednesday, during peak periods, with strict national security exemptions remaining in place "as they have throughout the union's long campaign", Ms Flood said.
Melbourne airport staff will strike on Thursday between 4am and midday, and from 4pm and midnight.
"Our members in Immigration and Border Force and Agriculture and Water Resources will now resume their industrial action, knowing that their campaign never has and never will compromise Australia's national security at airports or anywhere else," she said.
"These workers remain angry and frustrated at the way they've been treated by this government, with no-one listening to their concerns for their livelihoods and their families after two years of attacks on their rights and pay."
The strikes are intended to pressure the Turnbull government to settle a string of deadlocked pay disputes that have rumbled across the 152,000-strong public service for almost two years.
"The fact is that more than eight out of 10 people working in the public sector still don't have new agreements after two years," Ms Flood said.
"So their growing frustration with the government's intractable policy is understandable."
