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Labor has tried to increase the pressure on the Coalition government to settle its three years dispute with tens of thousands of its public servants. Commonwealth officials from a number of departments walked off the job on Friday invoking the scorn of Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, who said they were in an "absurd position" and Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd who said the strikers were wasting time and money. Centrelink urged clients to stay away from its offices and phone lines during the 24-hour strike and the Immigration Department warned of possible disruption at international airports around the country, advising travellers to show up early for their flights. The Sydney office of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was picketed by public servants from his own department while Australian Border Force officials protested outside the Brisbane Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's office Brisbane. The strike is part of a broader protest across federal government departments and agencies whose workforces have been in dispute with the Coalition government over wages and conditions for more than three years. Labor employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor came to the defence of the strikers on Friday saying the public servants were hardworking Australians trying to defend their workplace conditions. The shadow minister branded the government's approach to the dispute as "cruel and incompetent". "Thousands of hard working people at Medicare, Centrelink, Child Support, the Tax Office and more are taking industrial action today, not because they want to, but they continue to face an unfair and unworkable public sector bargaining policy," Mr O'Connor said. "For any solution to be reached, the Turnbull Government must sit down with the unions and the workforce and settle this matter to restore fairness, dignity and respect at work. "This government is so incompetent that it is the first government in 30 years that has been unable to settle public sector bargaining." On Friday morning Senator Cash was blaming "games" by the Community and Sector Union for the disruption. "It's very sad that thousands of public servants are in the ­absurd position in which their union cares more about engaging in ineffectual industrial action for one year than it does about its members not receiving a pay rise for three years," Senator Cash said. "In the 12 months from October 2015 to 30 September 2016, there are only 29 out of 366 days where the CPSU had not notified that its members would engage in some form of protected industrial action. "This includes weekends." CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood returned fire, saying any disruption on Friday was "nothing compared to the terrible damage inflicted on public services by the Turnbull government's slashing of jobs and budgets and ongoing efforts to hurt these workers". "These people are trying to support their families without a pay rise for three years and struggling to hold onto basic workplace rights and conditions, particularly family-friendly rights that let them do their job while dropping their kids off at school or daycare," the union leader said. Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd, Senator Cash's proxy in the dispute, issued a statement on Friday afternoon accusing the strikers of wasting time and money and warning them to "think carefully." "Public servants involved in industrial action should think carefully about what the CPSU is delivering its members during this bargaining campaign," Mr Lloyd said. "The union's fearmongering, delay tactics and grandstanding exercises do nothing to advance your claims."

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