FED: Indon airline hit by threat of Aust industrial action

AAP General News (Australia)
04-27-1999
FED: Indon airline hit by threat of Aust industrial action

By Rosalind Mathieson

CANBERRA, April 27 AAP - Indonesian planes flying in and out of Australia are under threat
of industrial action over the federal government's handling of recent massacres in East Timor.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) has passed a resolution criticising the
government, saying it had failed to condemn the deaths.

A meeting of AMWU airline delegates in Sydney passed the resolution today, recommending its
1,200 airline members hold urgent mass meetings and consider industrial action.

AMWU acting national president Julius Roe called on other unions to support the campaign.

"It is unacceptable that Australia supports massive intervention in the Kosovo conflict yet
in our own backyard we are pussyfooting around," he said.

Mr Roe said workers at the Qantas jet base, which services international planes including
those from Indonesia, would hold a stopwork meeting when the next Indonesian plane came in and
consider refusing to work on it.

"There is the clear possibility that that would disrupt services," he said.

Mr Roe said the ACTU would also consider at a meeting in Melbourne on Friday whether wider
action should be taken.

"The delegates at the jet base, who are the leaders of the rank and file, are very
concerned about the situation in East Timor as it is quite clear that the Indonesian military
is behind what's happening there," he said.

"They also believe Australia should take a stronger stance against it."

Comment was not immediately available from Indonesia's Garuda Airlines or Foreign Affairs
Minister Alexander Downer.

The Indonesian military estimates that recent violence between pro and anti-independence
factions in East Timor has led to 26 deaths, while other sources put the toll as high as 100.

It comes as Prime Minister John Howard holds an emergency summit with Indonesian President
BJ Habibie on the future of East Timor.

Australia is putting forward a number of initiatives in today's talks to disarm the
paramilitaries on East Timor and assist with the planned landmark vote on the future of the
former Portuguese colony.

Mr Howard has made it clear he will be using Australia's close ties with Indonesia rather
than threats over aid, defence ties or the Timor Gap to produce an outcome.

AAP rmm/sc/hu/de

KEYWORD: TIMOR AIRLINES

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.