The increased spotlight on the 457 visa skilled migration program is beginning to have an effect, with more and more cases being exposed of exploitation of foreign workers here on short-term permits.
In the latest case to come to light, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) is investigating suspected rorting of the 457 system at the massive McArthur River zinc and lead mine in the Northern Territory.
A Spanish contractor, ESPA Pacific, is alleged to have underpaid foreign workers by as much as 50%, while also assigning jobs to some workers that their visas did not allow them to do. The open cut mine, 900 km south-east of Darwin, is operated by the Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata on a fully fly-in/fly-out basis.
The DIAC is investigating the contractor after a complaint lodged by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.
AMWU organiser Brian Wilkins said he came across the alleged rorting when he spoke to local workers during collective agreement negotiations. He said he had been told that ESPA Pacific employed about 12 diesel fitters on 457 visas, paying an average of about $5000 a month before tax, which equates to a flat rate of $21 an hour, before penalty rates or other allowances.
But on-site tradespeople with other contractors were paid $45 an hour for the same work. And direct employees of Xstrata are paid $10,800 a month, before bonuses including a Darwin rental allowance. It is also alleged that some workers have been employed to drive trucks, a job that they are not allowed to do under their visa conditions.
The union has been unable to talk to the workers after a meeting was arranged in a room that was in direct view of the mine’s HR manager, which may have deterred them from coming forward.
“I wouldn’t blame them for being worried… We’ve been told that there have been cases of 457 visa workers who questioned the company being sacked instantly then put on a plane and sent home within 48 hours,” Mr Wilkins said.
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