AUSTRALIA LATEST 457 VISAS SCAM AS PER AUDIT DONE FOR JULY AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 2014 AND READ RESULTS(1)1 OUT 5 VISA HOLDERS NOT PAID FULL SALARY OR DOING THE JOB FOR WHICH OBTAINED WORK PERMIT(3)NUMBER OF EMPLOYERS SPONSORING 457 VISAS NOR TRACEABLE(4)NUMBER OF MIGRANTS NOT TRACEABLE AND ONE INSTANT WHERE FOREIGN WELDER GETTING ONLY YEARLY SALARY OF $ 41258 INSTEAD OF $ 120,000 WRITTEN IN CONTRACT Published: December 4, 2014 - 12:15AM More than one in five foreign workers in Australia on a 457 visa are not being paid properly or doing the job they were brought here to do, according to the latest audit by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Inspections by the Fair Work Ombudsman for July, August and September show concerns about salary and occupation at 107 out of 504 workplaces employing such visa holders covered by the audit. This amounts to concerns about 20 per cent of employers audited and is an increase from the 16 per cent of employers identified as not paying appropriate wages or providing proper jobs in previous audits between September 2013 and June this year. Notable cases identified in the most recent audit include an overseas welder who is meant to receive $120,000 but is being paid $41,253 and a foreign electronic engineering technician working as a cleaner. In another case, Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors concluded they had no prima facie concerns about a Queensland sponsor employing an overseas truck driver, despite that position of truck driver not being among those eligible for skilled visas. The audits, obtained by the Transport Workers Union under Freedom of Information laws, also show an increasing number of employers failing to provide Fair Work inspectors with required information on 457 visa holders. Several employers of 457 visa holders could not be located and dozens of foreign workers here on the visas no longer work for the businesses that sponsored them, the latest audit shows. The publication of the audit comes as members of the Senates legal and constitutional affairs committee are being lobbied by unions and other organisations representing foreign workers to hold an inquiry into the 457 visa system. In September, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison released a report by a four-member panel which he said had found no evidence to back widespread rorting claims by the previous Labor government when they referred [to] 10,000 visa rorters. Mr Morrison has announced changes to make it easier for employers to import labour by relaxing English-language requirements, fast-tracking approvals processes for larger companies with good employment records and reducing income thresholds. TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon said the latest audit results showed there was evidence of rorting and exploitation within the 457 visa system. Skilled migration should be viewed as supplementary to up-skilling, training and employing local workers, Mr Sheldon said. With over one million people currently on some form of temporary visa, Australia has effectively outsourced 11 per cent of its workforce at a time when unemployment is at its highest in a decade. Opposition spokesman for employment, Brendan OConnor, said the Fair Work Ombudsman audits justified Labors approach to 457 visas when it was in government. Mr OConnor said the Abbott government needed to re-consider its planned changes to 457 rules.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 07:59:10 +0000
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