Coronavirus: Stop visa exploitation say unions

With borders closed, and regional jobless rates soaring, unions insist Australian young people will pick fruit if changes are made to stop exploitation

Australian Workers Union national secretary Daniel Walton. Picture: Grant Wells

With international borders likely to be closed for months, and regional unemployment soaring, unions have called for changes to the working holiday visa program, insisting action is needed to reduce exploitation and create work for jobless youth.

Australian Workers Union national secretary Daniel Walton said on Monday the pandemic had laid bare the industry’s over-reliance on exploited backpackers to fill jobs that could be done by workers already living in remote and rural Australia.

“This is an industry that is essentially lawless, totally broken and run by industry cowboys. It needs an overhaul from top to bottom that looks at every policy parameter – visas, worker rights, labour hire, enforcement— the lot,” Mr Walton said.

“The concept that Australians don’t want to do this work isn’t just wrong, it’s offensive. All work is dignified and should be respected. If they actually started paying people decent wages, there’s a willing workforce already out there in rural and remote Australia that should be used throughout the crisis and beyond. They deserve a fair shot at a good job.”

The AWU, the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, and the Transport Workers’ Union want the working holiday visa scrapped in its current form and a national labour hire licencing scheme set up to allow unions to spot visit and conduct checks on wages.