Core Skills Occupation List Consultation

Submission by the Australian Council of Trade Unions

Introduction

This submission will relate to the listing of the new OSCA occupation 332134 – Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (LAME) on the list. It is the view of the ACTU and our affiliated unions with coverage of Aircraft maintenance, the AMWU, AWU and ALAEA, that this occupation is not appropriate for inclusion on the CSOL. Despite the existence of a shortage, it is our view that this occupation is inappropriate for inclusion on the CSOL due to the nature of shortage, the impact that a migration stream would have on the domestic pipeline of workers and the availability of a local workforce currently being denied access to job opportunities. Throughout we will reference the initial results of a survey of the aircraft maintenance workforce currently being undertaken by unions which has received more than 250 responses from AME and LAME workers, both union and non-union, across the nation and industry.

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