GUEST 457 WORKERS DIE ON THE JOB

Two Filipinos and one Chinese man in Australia on controversial 457 “guest worker visas have been killed in work accidents in the past month according to a news report on Monday June 25, 2007.  The workers died in Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia.

The Federal Government has yet to release details.  A union spokesman said, “the didn’t speak English, they had no union protection, in fact these men were among the most powerless, the most vulnerable.”

A spokesperson for the Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, said the Minister knew about the deaths and had called for “comprehensive reports,” expected b mid July.

Australian employers have sponsored 150,000 skilled workers under the 457 visas, describing them as guest workers whereas union reps described them as “bonded labour” working for pay rates below the Australian minimum wage.

One of the reps added a Filipino stonemason in Perth was crushed to death between slabs of granite last month.  He said a Chinese man was killed in early June felling timber for a company in Mitchell, near Charleville in Queensland.  “He was working as a logger even though he did not have the right skills,” he said.

The third death was of a Filipino agricultural worker in the Northern Territory who dell from a truck in early June.  It is believed Coroners had called for reports into the deaths, said a union spokesman.  On Thursday June 21, 2007 the Federal Government introduced legislation imposing tougher sanctions on employers who abuse 457 visa workers or do not fulfill their contractual obligations.