Fed: Disaster if visa extended to transport industry: union

AAP General News (Australia)
08-28-2007
Fed: Disaster if visa extended to transport industry: union

CANBERRA, Aug 28 AAP - There would be disastrous consequences if the 457 visa was extended
to the transport industry, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) says, following revelations
three foreign workers died after being exploited under the scheme.

The 457 visa scheme was implemented to allow employers to recruit from overseas to
fill skilled positions that can't be filled within Australia.

But employers are breaching the strict conditions of the visas, including putting workers
in jobs they are not trained for, ignoring safety standards and deducting accommodation
and meal expenses directly from wages, Fairfax reports.

A university-trained Filipino farm supervisor was thrown off the back of a truck and
killed on an Northern Territory cattle station in June.

Two days earlier, a Chinese logger died north of Brisbane when a dead tree fell and crushed him.

In the third death in March, Filipino stonemason Wilfredo Navales was crushed to death
by two slabs of granite at his workplace north of Perth.

In all cases the men had complained that they were doing work which they were not skilled
to perform.

The TWU says the report is alarming and shows the Howard government must ensure the
457 visa scheme is not extended to the transport industry.

"It's now become apparent that this visa is poorly regulated and downright dangerous,"

senior official Mark Crosdale said in a statement.

"If the same easily exploitable foreign labour was brought over here to drive trucks,
there would be disastrous consequences.

"You simply can't bring over cheap workers to drive 50-tonne trucks and not expect
carnage. Vulnerable drivers are dangerous drivers."

AAP kc/maur/mn

KEYWORD: VISAS TRANSPORT

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