Pacific guest worker program must include union rights!

The Australian Workers Union will back a Federal Government scheme to allow Pacific Islanders to come to Australia under a pilot scheme for guest workers in the agricultural sector.

AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes, told a Pacific Forum meeting in Fiji this week that the pilot guest-worker program will help to ease Australia's labour shortages and to boost Pacific economies.

But he warned that these workers must have the same rights as other Australian workers - including the right to join a union for protection from unscrupulous bosses.

Pacific Island neighbours trying to keep heads above water

"I think now is the time for the union movement to be proactively engaged on these issues," Paul Howes said.

" Unless unions embrace guest-worker programs there would be increased pressure from illegal migration, as occurs in Europe and the US, which would make it "impossible" to regulate employment standards here."

The AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes, spoke this week at the 2-day meeting of the Pacific Forum in Fiji, called to discuss the issue. The Pacific Islands Forum is an inter-governmental organisation enhancing co-operation and representing the interests of the independent countries of the Pacific.

The union believes the program could go ahead only if islanders are protected from unscrupulous employers, and paid Australian wage rates.

Previous guest worker schemes rorted

" The previous Australian Government's 457 visa program was rorted. The shame file involving exploited Filipino and Chinese workers was huge leading to serious community opposition to the scheme.

" Guest workers were being badly mistreated. Migrant workers were being brought to Australia by 'bad apple' employers to avoid paying decent wages," Paul Howes said.

Learn from experiences

" The intention of the program would be that at the end of the season workers going home could reinvest their wages and their new found skills into their communities. Certainly the Canadian experience shows guest workers for instance spending a higher percentage of their wages from their Canadian experience in the education of their children."

Paul Howes said one of the most pressing concerns was that of unnecessary deductions being taken from workers pay.

"There has been some cases where some small minority of employers have deducted large amounts of monies from the wages of the workers and you've had some of these workers going back to their home islands with very little money," he said.

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