22/11/2015 09:14 AM
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Subject / Submission from John Alldis
Dear sir/madam,
I am an air safety consultant and have spent a lifetime in the aviation industry mainly in the aircraft maintenance field, I have presented papers at various conferences, both internationally and locally, including one presented to the Safeskies conference in Canberra.
In my experience the use of 457 visa holders is a totally inappropriate one in this industry, the operation of aircraft is conducted under the rules and regulations appropriate to the country and indeed the regulations form part of the licensing procedure. Such specific knowledge is not easily taught in a short presentation.
The cultures of a country have a great bearing on the conduct in the workplace and the clash of cultures can have a detrimental effect on air safety. The fear of reprisal by a supervisor if you fail to complete a task quickly can be a very real one in some countries.
In one case I am aware of a company in Western Australia threatened a a 457 visa holder they would send him back to his country of origin if he did not work long hours and short cut tasks which Australian regulations require to be performed in a certain way.
The language of Aviation is English and the capacity to read, write and speak English is essential, technical language is much more specific than conventional speech such that even lecturers who teach English in other countries have difficulty translating. I have seen this first hand in Seattle where a group of Asians were using a linguist to translate exam questions for them.
The other vital reason why 457 and short time workers are undesirable is that if you have apprentices or other trainees in the workplace they need mentoring and knowledge passed down for generations is irretrievably lost to the detriment of the future of the Australian workforce. Where will Australia's future tradespeople come from?
There are a number of other detrimental effects in the use of labour hire, 457 visas and short time employment, such as the inability to buy a home by use or a mortgage, the lowering of superannuation levels and the resultant lack of retirement benefit and so on.
By far the two most severe effects are lack of future employment for young people resulting in the de-skilling of the workforce and the lack of brand involvement with the absence of company loyalty, both to and from the employee.
Some employers only see the bottom line but the future effects on the country can be disastrous not the least in the purchasing power of the populace but the low wages generated which mean less taxes to run the country, particularly when federal governments refuse to recover tax from overseas corporations.
Yours sincerely,
John E Alldis,J.P. IENG, AMRAeS
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John Alldis