australian identity: Jobs For Locals Eh ?

THIS IS WHAT WAGGA LOCALS CAN EXPECT AT THE CHINESE

TRADE CENTRE

THE UNIONS PRETEND TO CARE BUT THEY ARE ALSO WOVEN

INTO THE FABRIC OF THIS TYPE OF TRAITOR CLASS ECONOMICS

THE UNIONS OF OLD ARE LONG GONE !

THE 457 VISA WORKERS DON'T CARE THEY ARE TAKING LOCAL

JOBS, IN FACT THEY WERE LAUGHING ABOUT IT ON T.V

SO MUCH FOR THE LAW SURROUNDING EMPLOYMENT OF

457 VISA WORKERS ONLY WHEN LOCAL WORKERS WERE

NOT AVAILABLE ?

DAWN CHOPPERS DEFEAT SITE PICKET

by: John Ferguson
From: The Australian
February 11, 2013 4:15PM
5 comments

Local workers Marcelo Arenis, Marc Penhall and Nick Donohue man the picket line outside the Werribee treatment plant project. Picture: Nicole Garmston Source: Herald Sun

WORKERS were today ferried by helicopter on to a heavily picketed construction site to combat a union and community campaign to blackban foreign workers on 457 visas and widen coverage.

Protesters at the Werribee site, southwest of Melbourne, said the helicopter was the same used on Saturday to ferry workers over the picket. The first load of workers arrived at 7.26am, landing about 300m from the picket line of about 50 men.

Nick Donohue, a spokesman for the protesters, says about four workers from the Philippines had been recruited for the Werribee water treatment plant because they would be cheaper than local labour.

"There's no doubt that they've slashed the wages and the working conditions," Mr Donohue told Fairfax Radio.

"Four of us put in our application, our resumes, that was knocked on the head.
"They say they've got more skills than us. What does that say about the local TAFE system?

He said about 50 locals after jobs had come to the site to protest against foreign workers on 457 work visas.

The special visas enable companies to sponsor foreign workers if skills cannot be found locally.
The helicopter landed out of view of the protesters who claim that foreign workers are stealing their jobs.

Signs include "Beware of snakes" and "Stop visa workers".
Police have been placed on standby amid reported threats to workers.
By 8.35am, the helicopter had landed four times at the site.

The Melbourne construction site has become the latest national building industry flashpoint.
The picketers have been trying to block access to the $40 million water project for more than a week as part of what they claim is a "community" campaign that the industry maintains is linked to the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.

The industrial tactics mirror the long-running Little Creatures dispute in nearby Geelong and have been likened by the federal Coalition to last year's violent Grocon dispute in the heart of Melbourne.
Contractors at the Werribee sewage farm project have complained of facing repeated threats of violence and harassment and of a worker "invasion" of the site after a lock was allegedly broken and the perimeter breached.

A security guard also was allegedly "held hostage" for an hour and not allowed to leave the site.
For several days, contractors had been unable to enter the site, leading to the helicopter being used on Saturday, when contractors claimed the picket had swollen to 25 cars and up to 40 protesters.

Opposition workplace relations spokesman Eric Abetz said companies had the right to choose who worked for them. "It is not for the AMWU to take the law into its own hands," he said.
The company used a helicopter to ferry contractors to work today and police are expected to be on standby amid speculation of an even stronger showing by picketers.

AMWU Victorian assistant secretary Leigh Diehm said the union would "prefer to see locals on the job". He said the picket was not being run by the AMWU but added that the decision to fly in workers by helicopter had heightened tensions at the site.

The firm that used the helicopter, Briagolong Engineering, hires some foreign workers on 457 visas. The visa is for skilled workers from outside Australia who have been sponsored and nominated by a business to work temporarily in Australia. A business can legitimately sponsor a skilled worker if it cannot find an appropriately skilled Australian citizen or permanent resident.

The picketers claim that local tradesmen can do the same work.

Sources said "less than a busload" of the 50-odd workers on site were on 457 visas.
A spokesman for Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten said his department would brief the minister on the dispute.

Briagolong has declined to comment on the dispute, as has the Baillieu government.
The picketers said last week they were against foreign workers taking any jobs that could be performed by local labour.

This is amid rising unemployment in Victoria and a lack of state-run major projects.
Senator Abetz said there appeared to be a trend on Victorian construction sites. "It is another Grocon-type dispute," he said.

Mr Diehm said the AMWU would be prepared to mediate on behalf of industry and picketers: "I am 110 per cent behind the workers, the community out there."
Police are monitoring the site.
Briagolong is involved with building a salt reduction plant at Werribee, about 30km southwest of Melbourne, to enable treated sewage to be used on market gardens in the city's west.

At Little Creatures, protesters claiming to be independent of unions were ferried to the worksite to protest against outside labour.