CFMEU: Government must act to end the exploitation of foreign workers

CFMEU National News

It was no surprise to the CFMEU to read about Chinese workers employed unlawfully as plasterers in the Victorian construction industry and their exploitation as reported on the front page of The Sunday Age last week.

Around Australia, the CFMEU has encountered numerous instances of Chinese plasterers, both lawful and unlawful, being employed by unscrupulous employers taking advantage of the workers’ visa status, lack of knowledge of their rights, their pay and conditions.

We have expended considerable resources to communicate with and gain the trust of Chinese workers in order to stop their exploitation. As far back as 2008, officials from the union met with the Victorian Multicultural Commissioner, to seek advice about reaching out to the community and encouraging workers to come to us for help.

Two years ago, a Victorian CFMEU official spent a week negotiating backpay for over 100 Chinese workers who had worked for three months without pay on the site of a major construction company in the inner city.

In fact the union has acted to secure back pay for non payment of wages and entitlements often to the tune of millions of dollars. In one case, the union was actually fined by the Fair Work Building Commission for doing so.

In another case in 2011, the union uncovered a plastering firm that won a major tender for a $5 million job with a $4 million bid.  It employed 120 Chinese workers on an array of temporary visas. Many had tourist visas with no working rights in Australia while others were working in breach of their visa conditions and some were over-stayers.

None spoke English, all were being paid well below the award, were given an ABN and forced to work as sham contractors.

The union has led the fight against the practice of these shonky contractors who unlawfully employ foreign workers and thereby undercut employers who pay the right wage rates and conditions and train young apprentices.

The CFMEU negotiated a temporary foreign labour clause in enterprise bargaining agreements which obliges employers to check that workers have valid visas entitling them to work in Australia.  We negotiated this clause into the Victorian plastering EBA precisely because of the problem of employers hiring Chinese workers without legal working rights as The Sunday Age reported.

The union also campaigned for the Employer Sanctions Act 2013 - which creates a statutory civil offence for employers and other entities employing non-citizens with no valid visa or working in breach of their visa conditions, or allowing them to work.

This new law imposes fines of up to $15,300 for each illegal worker rising to $76,500 if taken to court.

It is worth noting that Tony Abbott opposed this legislation every step of the way.

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