Last night’s Insight program on SBS (Tuesday July 26) showed serious community concern about the abuse of skilled migration programs and 457 visas by Australian employers.

The CFMEU says that temporary overseas labour should not be increased at the expense of training young Australians.

 We need to make sure that the skilled migration system is not abused by employers, and that we continue to offer training and apprenticeships to young Australians.

To allow big employers to look overseas for staff rather than be involved in training local workers may lead to short-term profits, but will damage our workforce in the long-term. Currently employers do not need to demonstrate that they have attempted to attract local labour before engaging temporary overseas workers.

The Federal Government needs to ensure that employers can only go overseas for skilled workers if they can show that suitably qualified local workers are not available.

Until that happens, temporary overseas labour schemes in the construction sector will simply be used to drive down wages and conditions for locals.”

Even though 457 visa holders should legally be awarded the same pay and conditions as Australians, in reality they are unlikely to complain if they get short-changed, because they rely on their employer for their visa.”

Employer compliance, monitoring and enforcement are still grossly inadequate. In the 2011-12 Budget the Federal Government allocated an extra $10 million for faster processing of 457 visa applications – but not one extra cent for 457 visa employer compliance.”

With 457 visa applications up 40 per cent on last year, and fast-track Enterprise Migration Agreements approved for resources construction projects, this leaves a weak system that unscrupulous employers can drive a truck through.”

Last week’s Howells Report found that a small group of employers and labour hire companies were knowingly employing people not eligible to work in Australia.

It recommended tougher penalties and strict liability for these employers.

 CFMEU Construction will continue to lobby the Government for tougher penalties for employers and labour suppliers who illegally employ overseas workers, to protect the jobs, pay and conditions of Australian workers.

• Read the program transcript with Dave Noonan and CFMEU Queensland member, David Campbell's contributions to the debate: SBS Insight Migration.
• Program is repeated Friday 1:30pm, Monday 2:30pm SBS ONE, Thursday 7:30pm SBS TWO
• Join the Facebook debate on the issues of skills shortages and migration.  Tell us your experiences. 

More info: 2010 Howells Review of Employer Sanctions