Unions trying to protect Australian jobs

Congratulations are due to those unions who are promoting the purchasing of Australian products by companies here, as a way of keeping jobs in Australia.

In recent years the manufacturing sector has been hard hit with the loss of thousands upon thousands of jobs. Many workers have been thrown onto the scrapheap of economic globalisation, some not finding work again in their area of trade, whilst some have only been able to get part-time or casual work – so, technically, they are not “unemployed”, but many haven’t had a full-time job in years, and banks aren’t enthusiastic about giving home loans to casual workers.

It is amazing that Australia is being used as a mining pit by certain foreign companies, who send our raw materials overseas, whereupon they are then imported back into Australia in the form of manufactured goods at many times the price. It might be said that whilst foreign peoples get the “value added” benefit of our mining production, Australians get the “victim added” benefit of losing our manufacturing industries.

Paul Howes, the national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, said “At the moment, many Australian manufacturers don’t even get the ability to tender for this work and often there is government money going into these projects”.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions has called for measures to stop jobs being sent overseas, like getting rid of any tax incentives for companies to do so. The ACTU has also called for changes to the visa policies for foreign workers.

There have been many instances where foreign workers have been used to displace Australian workers; this is especially the case in areas where the accepted wage levels are much higher than award rates – companies claim that they are paying the right wages, but are in fact undercutting the wage levels of Australian workers.

One tactic has been to “restructure” a workplace, making everyone redundant, then offering them all “new positions” doing exactly the same sort of work, but at wage rates that are very much lower than those they had; many workers become so indignant at the injustice of it all (working as skilled labour for unskilled rates) that they don’t sign the new contracts, deciding to look for work elsewhere for decent wages; so then the company can tell the government that they can’t get anyone to fill the positions, so they become eligible to import loads of foreign workers (usually from Third World countries) to take the jobs of Australians, but at a much reduced rate. And guess what? After the Third Worlders have been here for a while, they can apply for citizenship (the company might even be ever so “nice” and “helpful” by providing them with a letter saying that they are needed here), and so Australian workers are kept right out of that company’s workforce.

Another trick is to sack or retrench all of the employees, and put the work out to tender for sub-contractors. But, surprise, surprise, many of the original workers get hired again as “sub-contractors” for lower wages; whilst those that don’t rejoin can get replaced by foreign workers.

So Australian workers are being priced downwards out of the market, Third World “skilled” migrants are being used to fill the gaps (even though they are not always as skilled as they should be), whilst companies and politicians shake their heads in feigned wonder, pretending they don’t know what is going on.

No thanks go to the Liberal-Labor parties for sticking up for Australian workers, because they really don’t care. The Liberal Party and big business would rather have cheap labour (companies expect to get more consumers to sell to, whilst also increasing “profits”), whilst the Labor Party and the multiculturalists would rather have more Third Worlders here (most can be expected to vote Labor, whilst also increasing “diversity”). It’s a win-win situation for Liberal-Labor, but a lose-lose situation for the Australian people in general and for Australian workers in particular.

So, Australian jobs go straight to foreign workers, or are contracted out, or are put out to tender (and often foreign workers can become part of that process, along with lower wages and worse conditions). So, once again, Australian workers become the “tenderised meat” in the great sandwich of greed and globalisation.

Australian workers should have decent wages, being paid at the normal industry standards; whilst most of the gaps should be covered by training up Australian apprentices and the unemployed. It is not too hard a task to be done, but it will get harder and harder as the problem is left unfixed for longer and longer.

The politicians of the Liberal and Labor parties have a lot to answer for. The real shame is that they will most likely just skate back into parliament again at the next election (with the benefit of the ongoing validation of the main parties by the mainstream media, which reinforces the election habits of those “stuck in a rut” with traditional voting patterns).

If you really want to make a difference, then you have to get out there and do something. Whinging to friends and family is not enough. At the very least, ring or write to your local politicians and tell them that you won’t be voting for them again, and tell them why. Or better yet, join the Australian Protectionist Party and lead the charge for a better Australia.

You know Australian jobs and industries are worth defending. You know Australia is worth protecting. So now it’s up to you.



References:
Ewin Hannan and Christian Kerr. “Now let’s discuss jobs and protectionism at Future Jobs Forum”, The Australian, 6 October 2011
Unions release nine-point jobs plan”, News.com.au, 6 October 2011
Annabel Hepworth and Ewin Hannan. “ACTU push to scale back migration rejected”, The Australian, 7 October 2011
John McCarthy. “Casual approach eroding job security and rights, ACTU claims”, The Courier-Mail, 28 September 2011
Alex Messenger. “Australia: Mounting job losses in basic industry”, World Socialist Web Site, 24 September 2011
Matthew Stevens. “A vibrant manufacturing sector is essential”, The Australian, 7 October 2011

Comments

  1. SIMON HURFORD says

    WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS!!! SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE!

  2. Anita Elliott says

    Great comments.Yes I agree also with what Bob Wigley said

    With the government now allowing refugees to come in and giving them work permits, somewhere to live etc they will definitely be willing to work for less money and put others out of work. We have already seen a report of this on TV, but politicians just shrug it off. And as always our aborigines are the ones who feel it the most. We seem to able to have all the resources for boat people but still after 200 years we can't help our aborigines….and no I am not an aboriginal..

    I gasped tonight as the ABC news said that the Qantas CEO wanted a 71% pay rise!!!! All the while the baggage handlers want some job security. We are very short sighted. What's going to happen one day when all our natural recourses have been dug out?

    Are we going to be like Fiji where the indians have all the busnesses and the natives have to work for them???

    I also don't agree with the goverment's carbon tax package either. October 10th's TIME magazine had a very interesting artcle on the Solyndra Syndrome. China & Taiwan dominate the global solar market at 54% and America only has 6% of the market…so where does Australia fit into this when we hear of all these wonderful green jobs being created for our future generation. I'd say we'll have very good looking robots to do the jobs!!

    Our young generation is all for boat people, the carbon tax, as one person said on the radio..we'll teach those big companies not to pollute..I really don't think the big companies care, they will just pass the costs onto us. The greens will have a lot to answer for. I can't wait for the next election…bring it on

    • Soothsayer says

      I notice in the weekend's paper that the Gillard government is talking about giving asylum seekers bridging visas and getting them to work in regional community. My biggest question is: Will asylum seekers actually stay in regional areas? They didn't make this journey to eke out a living in some backwater and have their kids not be able to access good schools etc.,.

      Of course asylum seekers will accept it anyway and then move away as soon as they can. The government lives in some fantasy world, they are not glued into reality.

  3. Bob Wigley says

    I agree with Ray. One of the sad things about the present situation is that we have a Labor Government in power. A Government which historically was supposed to look after the workers of this country. That does not seem to be the case any longer. They are just puppets of the U.N. Australia is on the way to becoming a basket case. I believe that the generosity of the Australian people will be our downfall as waves of people arrive on our shores who are intent on exploiting our Social Security while at the same time despising our way of life.

    • Save Australia says

      Well said Bob Wigley

      the generosity of the Australian people will be our downfall as waves of people arrive on our shores who are intent on exploiting our Social Security while at the same time despising our way of life

      This is already happening. Hordes of Third Worlders from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Pacific Islands are coming to Australia as the land of milk and honey (aka the land of the big Centrelink) and taking over our country.

      We are not "sharing" Australia, we are giving it away. Many areas are predominantly Third World. How long until the whole of Australia looks like Hong Kong or some sort of hodge podge mix, like one big Mexico? While that is fine for Hong Kong or Mexico, but if the Australian people come to no longer exist as a Caucasian people, then that is genocide.

      And what's with all these foreign workers coming in and taking our jobs?

      I know through friends how lots of people are being thrown out of work (yeah, "restructuring") and get replaced by Third Worlders working on low rates.

      Is the Labor Party mad?
      The Liberals were doing the same thing when they were in government, are they mad too?
      Or is it all a deliberate way of destroying Australia?
      No doubt they think they are making Australia better (well, some of them, the rest are just selfish b**tards who are out to make a profit) but they are not – they are destroying our nation!

      • Theres a Chrystal carwash just a five minute walk from my workplace. About 20 people must work there at any given time and not ONE of them is Australian, but almost entirely Indian. This is racism against Australians who may need the work. Every service station is now manned by Indians (and they're completely useless if you need help with your car], every shop has Indian gaurds at the front enterance to check bags……why arn't Aussies doing these jobs? Australia is full of Indian 'students' who come out here with one-way tickets and never intend to return home. Why must we put up with these, and other third world minorities when it was never taken to a referendum? The useless retards in Canberra no longer speak for most Australians. I don't want our cities to resemble Baghdad, Mogudishu or Beijing. Do you?

  4. Ray Cullen says

    Being a victim of so-called restructure losing my job at age fifty seven I'm well aware of the demise of Australian industry and enterprise. More-so Australian owned enterprise where we've seen Australian owned ventures taken over by the Foreign Corporate giants of the world, now reaching the level where Australia now owns very little. For example the mining industry with our current inept political leaders trumpeting about the "Mining Boom" when 83% of mining operations in this country are Foreign owned. To add to the mix a close look at who owns what just in Queensland alone is sickening.
    For example the rich coal deposits in the Callide area of Queensland are all foreign owned i.e. Anglo American Co! Who is Anglo American? A conglomerate of JP Morgan and DE Beers the diamond mining Corporation with mining operations all over the world, on their web site they proudly point out their Callide Coal operations sell the coal to Queensland for power generation???? Bloody Incredible, a Foreign Corporation walks in takes over,digs our coal out of our country and sells it back to us! Thanks to the stupidity of our so-called political leaders who have been complicit in allowing this to happen! Explained away as the "Foreign Investment" we had to have! More like Treason in my book! The current mess we are in can be laid at the door of the United Nations with our politicians signing a litany of UN Declarations and agreements such as The Lima Agreement. Millennium Declaration. Agenda21. Kyoto Protocol. Convention of Biological Diversity just to name a few! The "Hidden agenda" That's what has caused this country to be where it is today! No longer the Australia we once knew!

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