Rights at work

$650K workers' underpayment is proof that problems are rife with Govt's 457 visas

The announcement by the Office of Workplace Services (OWS) today that temporary workers have been underpaid $650,000 is conclusive proof that exploitation of overseas workers is rife under the Federal Government's 457 visa program says the ACTU.

Commenting on the issue today ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:

"Today the Office of Workplace Services (OWS) announced it has found 38 overseas workers in NSW were underpaid $650,000.

Yesterday the OWS announced it had found a Melbourne printing firm had underpaid four overseas workers $93,000 over the past 12 months.

This shows just how big is the problem of exploitation of overseas workers and just how little the Government has been doing about it.

The Government has attacked unions for standing up for overseas workers but would the Government really be focussing on this issue if examples of exploitation under the 457 visa program had not been raised by unions and the media?

In fact, while the number of visas the Government has been issuing has sky-rocketed, its monitoring and compliance efforts have been falling.

The Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs admitted in its annual report released last week that less than two thirds of employers sponsoring migrants on the visas were monitored last year, down from almost 100 per cent in the previous two years.

The Government has also admitted that site checks were conducted on only 18 per cent of employers hiring migrants on the visas - short of the Department's own target of 25 per cent.

The drop in compliance checks came as the number of workers who were issued s457 visas grew by more than 40 per cent in 2005-06, to 40,000 and the number of employer sponsors grew by 20% to nearly 10,000," said Ms Burrow.

"The Federal Government's overseas worker program is creating a group of second-class workers in Australia.

It is a program that is out of control and should be immediately halted," said Ms Burrow.