Real evidence of RORTING required, otherwise its front page spin as usual from the party with no idea.

Gillard is out to trash anyone and anything in order to keep her governments dismal performance off the front pages and out of the tv news cycle - simply pathetic, she has single handedly trashed the meaning of serving in high office.

Employers want a 'cheapie, just arrived off the boat', Aussie IT workers told    

Date
    March 15, 2013



Sylvia Pennington



While IT figureheads are in high dudgeon over Prime Minister Julia Gillard's call for a crackdown on rorting and abuse of the 457 temporary visa system, local IT workers says she's on the money.    

    To my mind, this is the biggest rort in the system.
    Senior IT consultant

The situation is far from new. Vendors began using cut-price foreign talent to up their profits and elbow Aussies out of jobs early last decade, as soon as they twigged they could, according to those who claim to have been stung by the practice.    

While debate over the visa system rages, IT consultancy Mahindra Satyam has announced plans to use staff from India, Malaysia and the Philippines to up its Australian head count from 1600 to 5000 over the next two years.


Forty per cent of the staff would be located in Australia and 60 per cent offshore to Mahindra Satyam, head of ANZ operations Bobby Gupta told India's The Economic Times on Tuesday.

The region currently accounts for 8 per cent of the firm's $US1.31 billion annual revenue.

One worker told Fairfax Media he was made redundant from his nine-year IT management gig with a national liquor retailer in 2003 after the company hired Satyam (now Mahindra Satyam) to take over the IT jobs of eight local staff.

"Satyam had set up company offices in Australia and were bringing in Indian IT staff to do our jobs," the worker claimed.    

"We were given a few months' notice of our redundancy and in that time we had to train the Indian staff on how to support our internal systems. It was never said but we were made to feel that if you wanted your redundancy payment, you had to train them. While training the Indian staff, we found out that they were all in Australia on 457 visas.

"There were six of them with some rotating to give others exposure to the systems."

IT professionals say this practice is in common with other major systems integrators and consultancies that use short-term 456 and longer-term 457 visas to boost their bottom line by importing lower-paid overseas workers.    

Latest figures show 5800 ICT workers arrived on 457 visas, which allow them to stay for up to four years, in the past seven months.

In a speech on Thursday morning at an Australian Council of Trade Unions event, Ms Gillard accused IT firms of rorting the visa scheme at the expense of local professionals.

IT chiefs say the claim represents desperate vote mongering but those further down the tech food chain believe it's high time the government cottoned on to an issue they've long been highlighting.

"Local workers are effectively replaced by [456] visa holders who come in via their outsourcing employer and they stay for the minimum time, three months, I think, then go home and are replaced by another [456] visa holder," said one senior IT consultant, who asked to remain anonymous.

"This way, their employers pay them minimum wages and are able to undercut local businesses in tendering for work. To my mind, this is the biggest rort in the system."

Vendors and industry associations maintain the problem is one of skills – local candidates just don't have the specialised expertise of their imported brethren – but workers say their rhetoric cloaks an agenda that's all about economics.

"I actually have a colleague here who came in under a 457 and is sponsored by [a major telco]," the consultant said.

"His family are all here now and he's applying for permanent residency. I'm not sure what criteria he was able to meet but his actual job is fairly generic and could be filled by many Australian workers."

Another ICT professional who contacted Fairfax Media claimed to have applied for a job in Western Australia relevant to his skills but was informed by the recruiter that the hiring company wanted a "cheapie, just arrived off the boat".    

Satyam Mahindra was contacted for comment.

Have you experienced issues with 457 visas in the IT industry? Email us at scoop@smh.com.au.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/employers-want-a-cheapie-just-arrived-off-the-boat-aussie-it-workers-told-20130315-2g515.html#ixzz2NaRkBoIJ

Maqqa wrote on Mar 15^th, 2013 at 2:55pm:


What's to confront? Gillard has confirmed she's as xenophobic as Pauline Hanson or Tony Abbott. Anybody with an ounce of integrity must vote green and give preferences to independents or vica verse.

perceptions_now wrote on Mar 15^th, 2013 at 4:37pm:



The simple answer to your dilemma is economy of scales

labor are just pathetic. When gillard is asked why it is ok for her to use the 457 when there is obviously no need for it, even on the temporary basis, she goes to her no answer, Abbotts fault BS.

Gillard did not need to use the 457 visa to employ her communication director. There are plenty of people in Australia to do that job, so what the F is she on about, when she gillard/labor, are in fact abusing the 457 visa system.

perceptions_now wrote on Mar 15^th, 2013 at 7:09pm:



I neither acknowledge you figures or agree with it because it's based on assumptions I don't know

Your continued adhesion to them show you lack the understand of how economy of scales work

This is just another way for atheists to exploit and enslave the worlds poor...