Migrant workers ‘need good English’

    Natasha Bita
    The Australian
    June 26, 2014


ENGLISH standards for migrant workers are “not that high’’ and must not be watered down, the Employment Department has urged the federal government.    

In a blow to business groups lobbying for lower English language requirements, the department has warned that migrant workers need high-level English for safety and “employability’’.    

It also questions the template labour agreements that let employers automatically recruit thousands of offshore workers on 457 work visas for the meat sector, the on-hire industry, snow sports and as tour guides. The Employment Department has told the government’s 457 visa review that the agreements have “contributed to ongoing reliance’’ on imported labour. It wants them reviewed “to ensure there is an ongoing skill or workforce shortage that cannot be met from domestic employment and training strategies’’.

“This is important where … agreements are used by businesses in states with above-average unemployment rates and/or large numbers of retrenchments of Australian workers in industries or occupations with transferable skill sets to the industries and occupations covered by templates,’’ its submission states.

The Employment Department also believes it is “important’’ that skilled migrants on 457 visas “have high levels of English proficiency and skills to the Australian standard’’.

“English proficiency is important from a work safety perspective,’’ it says.    

“The current vocational English proficiency standard is not that high.’’

Under existing rules, most 457 visa holders from non-English-speaking countries must demonstrate “vocational proficiency’’ at level 5 of the International English Language Testing System.

This is defined as a “partial command of the language, coping with overall meaning in most situations though is likely to make many mistakes”.

Restaurant and Catering Australia wants the government to permit Level 4 English for cooks and chefs because “in a majority of ethnic restaurants, the language spoken in the kitchen is the language of the cuisine’’.

Level 4 is defined as “basic competence limited to familiar situations with frequent problems in understanding and expression’’.

The Business Council of Australia has urged the 457 visa inquiry to water down the English requirement “for skilled occupations that do not need high levels of English proficiency”.

The National Tourism Alliance, too, insists that “many occupations in tourism and hospitality do not require the levels of English language set down by the current visa requirement’’. “A working knowledge of English would be sufficient,’’ its submission states.

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, however, has produced Immigration Department data linking low English skills to workplace accidents.

In a separate submission, the Education Department suggests the government start testing the skills of would-be work migrants.

It says 457 visa holders do not have their skills independently assessed before they are granted the four-year work permit — and many go on to permanent residency without being tested.

“As a result, such migrants may have different qualifications and skills, professional experience and English proficiency to other individuals employed in the same occupation,’’ it says.

Potential benefits of a skills assessment “could include improving integrity and enhancing confidence in the 457 visa program by providing independent confirmation of a prospective employee’s skills,’’ the department says.

Never the less, we should make sure employers don't try and water down safety rules.