[QUOTE][Government to 'speed up' 457 visa processing
Graham Matthews
29 March 2008
On March 20, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that federal immigration minister Chris Evans had agreed to “speed-up” the processing of 457 visas, which allow bosses to hire skilled workers from overseas to fill alleged skill shortages.
The government’s move comes against opposition from the union movement, which argues that the 457 visa scheme has led to massive abuse of overseas workers. Workers on the visas are paid less and enjoy far fewer conditions than Australian workers in the same industry.
Under the scheme, bosses may apply to employ skilled workers for up to four years, providing they are paid the statutory minimum ($41,850 for most trades). Employers are not required to provide workers with award rates of pay — let alone the same wages and conditions that unionised staff in the same industry may have negotiated.
Guest workers employed on 457 visas have few rights. When the boss decides that the worker is no longer required, the worker must find an alternative employer within 28 days or leave the country. In many cases, skilled workers employed under the 457 visa scheme are highly exploited — working longer hours for less money and in much safe conditions than workers with full citizenship rights.
Speaking to ABC Radio on March 25, Professor Phil Lewis, a “labour market expert” from the University of Canberra, argued that immigration department statistics showed that workers employed on 457 visas were not being paid less than workers with full citizenship rights — “in fact the averages show they’re getting paid more”, he argued. “So what it seems to indicate is that employers are actually doing the right thing and employing people for the wage commensurate for their skill and that wage is very similar to what they’d be paying Australian workers.”
However Andrew Ferguson, NSW state secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, argues that the statistics were misleading. “It’s not the truth”, Ferguson told Green Left Weekly. “The methodology [of the immigration department study] is wrong in the calculation of average wage rates. The immigration department figures take an average across the industry, including trades people and apprentices. But these are skilled workers and should only be compared with other skilled workers.
“The study also doesn’t take account of wage variations across cities and regional areas. In many regional areas, rates of pay are lower than the cities, yet most of the [457] jobs are in the city. Workers employed on 457 visas must have higher minimum standards and rates of pay. Workers are entitled to market rates of pay rather than the statutory minimum.”
Ferguson said that “The market rate of pay that skilled workers can demand is substantially higher. Employment of workers on the lower rate undermines pay and conditions throughout the industry.” He argued that strict limitations should be applied to the 457 visa scheme, with employers obtaining the agreement of the relevant union in the industry that a bona fide skills shortage exists.
Ferguson also argued that the visa should only be available to bosses who have a history of training skilled workers in Australia. .”/QUOTE]