Thirty people attended a public meeting on July 3 to discuss the issue of temporary migration.
Organised by Australia Asia Worker Links (AAWL), the meeting was called in response to the debate around 457 visas, which allow employers to bring overseas workers to Australia on a temporary basis.
The meeting heard from five speakers. Pier Moro, AAWL coordinator, Chris Breen, member of Solidarity and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Jerome Small, member of Socialist Alternative and the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, Colin Muir, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union organiser and Jessie Cayanan, a Filipino worker in Australia on a 457 visa.
Moro reported the worldwide use of temporary workers — sometimes called “guest workers” — is growing. In Kuwait and Qatar about 80% of the population consists of temporary workers from overseas who are tied to their employer. Malaysia and Thailand both have millions of temporary immigrant workers.
Moro argued that the growing use of temporary migrant workers is part of a drive to make workers more “flexible”, and jobs more precarious.
Breen said unions should demand permanent residency, paid English classes and equal conditions for workers on 457 visas. He argued against the demand for 457 visas to be scrapped, claiming that to do so would promote the false idea that workers on 457 visas take jobs from Australian workers.
Breen said the campaign against 457 visas has distracted unions from building solidarity with workers in struggle.
Small said the 457 visa system, like similar systems in the United states, Canada and elsewhere, ties the worker to a particular boss. In such a system, the employer is the “gate keeper”, deciding whether workers can come to Australia, and whether they can stay. The result is that workers are afraid to antagonise their boss by joining a union.
Small argued that “the ability of the ruling class to impose this status on a section of the working class is a defeat for the working class”.
He said that union campaigns around the 457 visa issue have included two distinct elements. On the one hand they talk of defending “Australian jobs”. This is problematic and potentially racist. On the other hand they rightly denounce the gross exploitation of temporary workers, both as an attack on the migrant workers themselves and on the pay and conditions for all workers in Australia.
Small cited a resolution recently adopted by the Victorian State Council of the AMWU as a positive example. The resolution says the union will “include all current 457 visa holders in our organising and recruitment strategies and begin a political campaign with those workers and our members for all temporary workers to be given optional permanent residency status.
“We will oppose 457 visa workers being deported when government policy changes, companies close, jobs end or if workers get sacked. We reject any form of 457 visa or any other employer-initiated migration scheme and demand that all work migration be on a permanent residency basis”.
Muir told the meeting that the AMWU has a fairly good record in organising 457 visa workers and campaigning for their rights. However, he said it is hard to organise workers generally in Australia today, and even harder to organise those on temporary visas.
He reported that there have been cases where employers sacked existing workers and brought in 457 visa workers to do their jobs, and said that in such cases the existing union members expect the union to defend their jobs.
Cayanan told the meeting he had been working in a job where he was supposed to be paid $977 a week, but the boss demanded that he give back $520 of it, or else face dismissal and deportation. He has left this job, but has so far been unable to find another. If he has not found one within 90 days, he will be deported.
In discussion, Socialist Alliance member Chris Slee said the position outlined by Breen appeared contradictory. Solidarity demands permanent residency for 457 visa workers, but opposes demanding the abolition of 457 visas, which exist solely for the purpose of enabling bosses to bring in workers on a temporary basis.
Slee said it is necessary to defend 457 visa workers while opposing the 457 visa system. All current 457 visa workers should be given permanent residency, while all future migration for work purposes should be on a permanent basis he said.
