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Australia – Unions campaigning to keep labour market testing

02 October 2014

Unions across Australia are campaigning against a proposal to abolish the requirement for employers to advertise jobs locally before filling them with overseas workers on Temporary Work (Skilled) 457 visas, reports The Sydney Morning Herald

In June 2013, the former Labour Government passed Labour Market Testing (LMT) legislation, which requires employers to advertise jobs locally before looking to fill them with foreign workers. In November 2013, the legislation was amended so that employers recruiting for highly skilled occupations would be exempt from the legislation.

A Federal Government’s independent review panel, looking into non-compliance of the 457 visa programme, has outlined 22 recommendations to better balance the needs of companies and the rights of local workers. The review panel also recommended abolishing LMT.

Michael O'Connor, National Secretary of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has called on the government to reject the recommendation and strengthen and extend labour market testing instead: "Asking an employer to advertise a job vacancy before they make the claim they can't find somebody is not too much to ask. Why are people using 457 workers for low-level clerical work and nursing when you have graduate nurses unemployed?"

A spokesman for Assistant Immigration Minister Michaelia Cash rejected the CFMEU's claims, saying labour market testing was not a common reason for refusing nominations: "Since the introduction of labour market testing, less than 6% of subclass 457 nominations have been refused in the occupations subject to labour market testing. This compares [with] 4% for occupations not subject to labour market testing."

The CFMEU said these percentages were based on the number of final rejections, but did not take into account the number of applications withdrawn by employers on advice from the department.

According to the CFMEU, government data shows the number of 457 visa nominations had almost doubled from 9.8% to 19.1% in the first six months of the introduction of LMT. The rejection rate of 457 visas for occupations that are not subject to testing fell only slightly, from 7.9% to 7.3%, over the same six months.

Michael O'Connor, National Secretary of the CFMEU, said the initiative reduced the number of 457 visa approvals when employers failed to demonstrate that no qualified Australian workers were available for the job.

He said the labour market testing requirement covered about a third of occupations and had proved to be effective.