Inquiry into the Value of Skilled Migration to Australia

Submission by the Australian Council of Trade Unions

Introduction

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is Australia’s peak national body of unions, founded in 1927. Our 37 affiliated unions and trades and labour councils represent nearly 2 million members across all industries and occupations. The ACTU advocates on behalf of its affiliates on a wide range of issues to improve the lives of all workers.

The Australian Union movement believes in a fair go for all workers – whoever you are and wherever you come from. We are a proudly multicultural movement, and our diversity is our strength. Australia has been built by successive waves of immigration, which have in turn built our union movement. Migrant workers make an enormously valuable contribution to and are an integral part of our workplaces and our communities. Australian Unions believe that permanency, not temporariness, must be the foundation of our migration system, and that migrant workers must be able to enjoy the same workplace rights as local workers and be protected from exploitation.

Previous generations of migrant workers were able to build lives here in Australia with their families and become permanent members of our workplaces and our communities. But over time we have
seen our migration system shift to one based on temporary, employer-sponsored migration, where workers are on insecure short-term visas, and reliant on their employer for their ability to stay in the country. This resulted in rampant exploitation of temporary migrant workers, who are highly vulnerable to exploitation due to their temporary status which limits their bargaining power and agency, and employers gaming the system to use temporary migration as a source of cheap labour, rather than training up and giving opportunities to local workers.

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