...cont. 2
Stand-ins for testingOne caller inquiring about how to get "white cards" for 10 non-English-speaking Chinese workers asked ABE if it was OK for an Australian to complete the test on behalf of Mandarin-speaking employees.
ABE chief executive Dominic Ogburn said: "Yeah", before adding: "We've got another company, a Chinese construction company who have done the first one for them (the workers) and then they hand out the answers to them and then they go online and then do it themselves."
Ogburn later denied he was advising companies how to rort the system. He told Fairfax Media: "It's not the correct interpretation. It's not what I was trying to convey."
He said he had a strong compliance record.
Low payThe translator for the seven Chinese workers, Ming, told Fairfax Media the men were paid between $US70 and $US75 a day, which is well below the going rate for a lift industry worker of $42 an hour. It is also below the national minimum wage is currently $17.29 for a full-time adult worker.
The middle-aged workers were not given pay slips, paid penalty rates or paid super, despite working six days a week. As well as allegedly in breach of safety conditions they were not covered by WorkCover.
They were paid and technically employed by the Chinese company, which refused to respond to a series of questions.
Despite being paid illegal wages and flouting a number of laws, the arrival of the seven men into Australia was quick and simple.
Swift transitA visa grant notice shows that the subclass 400 visas were issued to the seven Chinese workers the same day the application was lodged.
The fast-tracking of the visas is part of ChAFTA, which was signed last September amid fears it would be exploited by companies looking for cheap imported labour to reduce labour costs.
According to employment migration expert Joanna Howe, a senior law lecturer at Adelaide University and Rhodes scholar, the ChAFTA workers are required to be employed in accordance with Australian law.
But she says there are less checks and balances.
"The ChAFTA prevents labour market testing which means there is no proper mechanism to determine that a Chinese worker is not replacing local workers in the Australian labour market," she says.
It means Chinese companies can import a workforce on the subclass 400 visa for short-term projects without any labour market testing requirements.
"Although the 457 visa has additional regulatory requirements like a minimum wage threshold for visa holders, the subclass 400 visa does not have the same level of regulation and timeframes and procedures for visa approval are significantly more streamlined, meaning there are far less checks and balances."
'Low risk' means low oversightAll a visa holder has to do is provide a letter of offer from their overseas employer attesting to the fact that the worker's employment conditions satisfy Australian workplace standards and that their activities will not adversely impact Australian workers.
It means an employer can make a false assertion in a letter of offer and it would theoretically go undetected.
This is because subclass 400 visa applications are considered "low risk" by the Department of Immigration, according to Dr Howe.
"They have a standard processing time of five days. In fact most are approved within 24-48 hours," she said.
"Further, DIBP does not have the resources and has certainly not displayed the inclination to verify whether subclass 400 workers once in Australia receive equivalent pay and conditions to Australian workers."
Additionally, there is no mandatory skills assessment for an installer or servicer from China on the subclass 400 visa once they arrive in Australia. This creates occupational, health and safety concerns.
Suppliers 'responsible' for wagesHercules managing director Terry Smith places the onus of paying correct wages on the supplier of the stacker: "That's all over to the Chinese company," he told Fairfax Media.
Smith, who lives in a $3 million house in the blue-ribbon Sydney suburb of Mosman, says it is "absolutely incorrect" that the seven workers were only paid $US75 a day.
He says the $US75 per day figure was the result of a "translation on a translation", though Smith could not say how much the men actually got paid.
"They're all paid in China. No one receives a cent over here."
Visa for specialised skills
A spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said the subclass 400 visa, also known as the Temporary Work (Short Stay Activity) visa, allows people to enter Australia to undertake short-term, highly specialised work.
"Applicants are required to demonstrate that they have specialised skills, knowledge or experience which can assist an Australian business and which cannot reasonably be found in the Australian labour market," the spokesman said.
"A requirement for the visa is that there be no adverse impact on the employment, training, or conditions of employment of Australian citizens or permanent residents," the spokesman said.
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