Meat processors want new labor agreement for Australian work visas
by Guneet S - April 23, 2010
Australia, 23rd April: Various meat processors are seeking new agreement with the Australian Immigration department for Australian work visas.
Demand of meat processors currently working in Australia is to provide Subclass 457 visas to those overseas workers who are desirous of working in Australia. Subclass 457 Australian visa enables foreigners to work in Australia from three months to a maximum of four years on a temporary basis.
Majority of Subclass 457 Australian visa holders are employed in agricultural and seasonal work in Australia.
The Australian meat industry is pressing Australian immigration department to extend the provision of Subclass 457 Australian visa so that meat processors in Australia can hire foreign skilled workers and use temporary work visas.
At present, Australian meat processors are finding it impossible to make use of Australian temporary work visas since as per the new rules by Australian immigration department, they must prefer employing local Australian workers over foreign workers.
Also, due to the seasonal nature of the business, regular daily hire is a tradition in the Australian meat industry; however, this is missing in the labor agreement.
Tom Maguire, corporate affairs spokesperson for Teys Brothers, Meat processor in Australia, stated that the company has been trying for the last 18 months to negotiate the agreement with the Australian government, but the pace of the negotiations has been dead slow.
Maguire clarified the intentions of such negotiations with the Australian government saying that the main aim is to help secure a route to Australian PR(permanent residency) for those who had been in the nation for a couple of years. Moreover, the meat industry is trying to seek alignment between the migrant labor agreement and industrial arrangements in different meat processing plants.
In the absence of any agreement with the processors, foreigner workers in Australia will have no option but to get back to their native countries on the expiry of their Australian visas, Maguire feared.
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