Business visas 'out of control'

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=e38355257f682080&cat=3a8a80d6f705f8cc

AUSTRALIA'S business visa program is out of control with the Federal Government now issuing around 8000 a week, the ACTU said.

The visas allow people from overseas to take a job in Australia for up to four years, ACTU president Sharan Burrow said.

In the process, it was becoming increasingly obvious that overseas workers were being exploited.

snip...

Ms Burrow said unions were concerned at reports some employers were rorting the visas to avoid giving jobs to local workers.

Bringing in poorly paid overseas workers increased competition in the workplace and led to lower pay and conditions for local workers.
more...
Welcome to our world Australians!!! Howard and Bush are made of the same corporations rule ilk!!!

[NYC]

1. Combine that with outsourcing,

and what's left?

[no safe haven]

2. Here’s a pretty recent sampling of things to come

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/2006/s1573947.htm

Not to mention this gem from everyone’s favourite corporate bully, Halliburton:

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18126835%255E910,00.html


The visa arrangements (457 visas) dovetail with our new industrial relations “reforms” and Howard’s obsession with obliterating the union movement in this country.

I constantly worry about my children’s future. My son worked for a while in construction but was replaced by contract workers, with the contractor abandoning every safety law imaginable. It’s not the contract workers’ fault – they’re all looking for a better life. The greed of their employers leaves them vulnerable to poor working conditions, no medical coverage and ultimately unable to support themselves in this country because, after all, they’re just a source of cheap labour. Meanwhile, the local labour market suffers.

Howard facilitates these conditions. It’s sickening and frightening.

[Matilda]

3. And what do we hear from Kim Beazley about this situation?

Not a dicky bird. He's more interested in hanging on to his own job, bugger the workers.