The Guardian 22 March, 2006
Lockout at Teys
Canberra’s infatuation with secrecy is driving campaigns to steal public holidays and slash the living standards of South Australian families. Secrecy underpins the terms of guest labour visas and Australian Workplace Agreements. They come together at South Australian meatworks where the terms of thousands of workers, including hundreds of imported Asian labourers, are kept secret, by law.
The focal point is Naracoorte, where industry giant, Teys Bros, has locked out 20 locals for choosing not to sign pattern AWAs (Australian Workplace Agreements) that strip their rights to an Australia Day holiday and reduce annual leave and overtime entitlements.
One locked out member of the Meat Workers Union discovered that when he reverted to the safety net award, his hourly rate was higher than on the Teys AWA. While union members are locked out, Teys employs 20 imported Chinese guest workers on temporary Section 457 Visas.
At the state’s biggest abattoir, Murray Bridge, around 200 of the 750 strong workforce are "guests" from Asia, employed on AWAs.
Meat Workers union State Secretary, Graham Smith, said the widespread use of guest labour is an "absolute rort", costing locals wages, condition and jobs. He said the Murray Bridge region has the highest unemployment rate in South Australia, after being rocked by last year’s Clipsal shutdown.
And, he said, government-enforced secrecy is preventing an informed debate. Government policy decrees that holders of four-year Section 457 visas must receive $39,100 per year, irrespective of existing agreements or going rates.
But, that doesn’t apply to regional Australia, where no earnings floor has been prescribed.
"Get this", Mr Smith said, "for the purposes of these visas, the whole of South Australia, including downtown Adelaide, is a regional area. We have got no idea what these people are earning, or their minimum conditions, and nor has the public.
"AWAs are secret and so, in regional Australia, are the minimum terms for guest workers."
Regional applications for Section 457 Visas are triggered by endorsements from local Chambers of Commerce. Theoretically, according to government and Immigration Department spin, they are only issued if skills cannot be sourced locally.
But Graham Smith said Naracoorte and Murray Bridge prove that claim is "rubbish".
"There are not 200 skilled positions at the Murray Bridge Abattoir. At best, if these positions were all genuine there would not be a skilled Australian worker in the place and that is certainly not the case.
"As for Naracoorte, the guest workers are labourers but, it doesn’t matter how you paint it, you can’t claim to be affected by a skills shortage when you turn around and lock out your skilled workers."
The Meat Workers Union is expected to challenge the legality of the Naracoorte lockout.