Government needs to come clean on impact on jobs of China FTA

18 November, 2014 | Media Release

The Abbott Government needs to come clean on the impact the China free trade agreement will have on Australian jobs, Unions said today.

ACTU President Ged Kearney said the scant information provided by the Government is deliberately vague but certainly proves there will be considerably less protections for Australian jobs. 

“The Abbott Government claims Australian jobs will be protected because the current rules on labour market testing – that genuine skills shortages must exist and jobs have to be advertised locally before foreign workers can come in - will apply to the Chinese deal,” Ms Kearney said.

“Apart from the fact that these current labour market testing rules are woefully inadequate, the Government’s own information on the trade deal doesn’t even make this guarantee clear.”

Under the trade deal, Chinese companies can bring in Chinese workers for projects of $150 million or more under new labour agreements called Investment Facilitation Arrangement (IFAs) which allow for so called ‘increased labour flexibilities’.

“Despite the Government today saying labour market testing will apply, their own fact sheet says rules for these new agreements will be based on Enterprise Migration Agreements – which do not require labour market testing.”

Ms Kearney said that Enterprise Migration Agreements were set up for projects of more than $2 billion with more than 1500 workers but what the Abbott Government has now done is drop the threshold down to $150 million projects and used the same rules.

“Does this mean jobs for these much smaller projects don’t have to be advertised to Australian workers first?

“There are more questions than answers and the Government needs to come clean and explain what this deal means for Australian workers.”

Ms Kearney said the free trade agreement also allows “guaranteed access” to Chinese citizens who are: 

·                Intra-corporate transferees and independent executives for up to four years 

·                Contractual service suppliers for up to four years

·                Installers and servicers for up to 3 months

“The Abbott Government needs to explain exactly what ‘guaranteed access’ means, how many foreign workers it will apply to and exactly which jobs it includes.

“The Australian community deserves open and transparent answers from their Government.”

Unions have written to both major parties and the crossbench urging them to reject any deal that does not protect Australian jobs.

Signatories to the letter include the ACTU, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, National Union of Workers, Australian Workers Union, Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia, United Voice, Transport Workers Union and the Rail Tram and Bus Union.