Proud to be Union - Foreign Policy White Paper
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Proud to be Union
SUBMISSION
Response to
CALL FOR PUBLIC
SUBMISSIONS
FOREIGN POLICY
WHITE PAPER
February 2017
THE ELECTRICAL DIVSION of the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia
Suite 408, Level 4, 30-40 Harcourt Parade, Rosebery NSW 2018 I Ph: (02) 9663 3699 I Fax: (02) 9663 5599Proud to be Union
The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) is the Electrical, Energy and Services Division of
the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing
and Allied Services Union of Australia (CEPU). The ETU represents approximately
65,000 workers electrical and electronics workers around the country and the CEPU
as a whole represents approximately 100,000 workers nationally, making us one of
the largest trade unions in Australia.
The ETU welcomes the opportunity to in relation to the 2017 Foreign Policy White
Paper.
As a member of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET), we
wholly endorse the submission being made by AFINET to this consultation process.
While we do not propose to repeat the submission here, we will reiterate its
recommendations.
Recommendations
1. Prior to commencing trade negotiations, the Government should table in
Parliament a document setting out its priorities and objectives. The document
should include independent assessments of the projected costs and benefits
of the agreement. Such assessments should consider the economic, regional,
social, cultural, regulatory and environmental impacts which are expected to
arise.
2. The Australian Government should release its proposals and discussion
papers during trade negotiations. Draft texts should be also released for
public discussion, as occurs in the WTO and is now the practice in some EU
negotiations (EU, 2015a).
3. The final text should be released for public and parliamentary debate before it
is authorised for signing.
THE ELECTRICAL DIVSION of the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia
Suite 408, Level 4, 30-40 Harcourt Parade, Rosebery NSW 2018 I Ph: (02) 9663 3699 I Fax: (02) 9663 5599Proud to be Union
4. After the text is completed but before the decision is made to sign it,
comprehensive independent studies of the likely economic, health and
environmental impacts of the agreement should be undertaken and made
public for debate, consultation and review by parliamentary committees.
5. Parliament should vote on the whole text of agreements, not just the
implementing legislation.
6. The Australian government should not include Investor-State Dispute
Settlement (ISDS) in trade agreements.
7. There should be no extension of monopolies on medicines or copyright in
trade agreements.
8. Trade in services provisions in trade agreements should use a positive list to
identify which services will be included in an Agreement.
9. Public services should be clearly and unambiguously excluded, and there
should be no restrictions on the right of governments to provide and regulate
services in the public interest.
10. Governments should retain the right to regulate and introduce new regulation
to meet service standards, health, environmental or other public interest
objectives.
11. Trade agreements should require the adoption and implementation of agreed
international standards on labour rights, enforced through the government-to-
government dispute processes contained in the agreement.
12. Trade agreements should require the adoption and implementation of
applicable international environmental standards, including those contained
within UN environmental agreements, enforced through the government-to-
government dispute processes contained in the agreement.
13. Temporary movement of workers other than senior executives and managers
should not be included in trade agreements.
THE ELECTRICAL DIVSION of the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia
Suite 408, Level 4, 30-40 Harcourt Parade, Rosebery NSW 2018 I Ph: (02) 9663 3699 I Fax: (02) 9663 5599Proud to be Union
Skills Testing for Overseas Workers in Licenced Trades
An independent and transparent process for both skilled and semi-skilled temporary
migrants is essential to ensure that qualifications gained overseas and held by
temporary overseas workers meet the contemporary requirements of Australian
qualifications and licensing arrangements. This is in the interests of both the worker
and the employer and the public.
With the advent of the China Australian Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) we have
seen an alarming situation where the arrangements set out by the ChAFTA mean
Chinese workers in a range of high-risk trades won’t have their skills automatically
assessed in Australia. This is particularly dangerous for a high safety risk trades like
electricians. The ChAFTA’s side letter on skills assessment and licencing allows for
the removal of mandatory Australian skills assessments for ten occupations under the
457 visa sub class including for trades that are potentially lethal if practiced by workers
who do not meet Australian skills standards. In addition, this list of occupations is set
to grow as the agreement is reviewed, with a stated goal that all skills assessments
are to be removed within 5 years.
China does not have the level of trades training and safety standards in comparison
to Australia. The ChAFTA arrangements will only serve to erode electrical safety in
our country and lead to accidents, injuries and death to workers and members of the
public.
Electrical work is inherently dangerous, that’s why there are stringent electrical training
and safety standards in Australia that have been developed over decades. Removing
the requirement for overseas trades workers to be assessed to see if their skills meet
our standards is dangerous for the workers, their colleagues and for the public.
THE ELECTRICAL DIVSION of the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia
Suite 408, Level 4, 30-40 Harcourt Parade, Rosebery NSW 2018 I Ph: (02) 9663 3699 I Fax: (02) 9663 5599Proud to be Union
To allow employers to bring in a workforce comprised of people untrained and
unfamiliar in Australian practices (including an electrical wiring standard that differs
substantially from most countries) is unsafe and unfair for all parties and
economically unsound.
The Immigration Department does not have the technical expertise to make a
decision on whether overseas workers that want to work in occupational licenced
trades are able to perform to Australian standards, that is one reason why mandatory
skills assessment by an appropriate body is so crucial.
Therefor we make the following additional recommendation:
Recommendation 14
For visa holders and overseas workers who are wanting to practice or perform
work in an Australian licenced trade, there must be successful competency
established via a mandatory skills assessment performed by a registered
training organisation approved by Trades Recognition Australia will prior to a
visa has been granted.
THE ELECTRICAL DIVSION of the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia
Suite 408, Level 4, 30-40 Harcourt Parade, Rosebery NSW 2018 I Ph: (02) 9663 3699 I Fax: (02) 9663 5599You can also read
