by: John Ferguson, Victorian political editor From: The Australian February 25, 2013 12:00AM
FOUR Filipino steel workers subjected to racial attacks for working under 457 visas in western Melbourne are at risk of being ejected from Australia as part of the Gillard government's crackdown on foreign workers.
Unions have sparked a government inquiry into the validity of the workers' visas after a protracted blockade at a work site forced their employers to hire a helicopter to ferry the contract workers into the grounds of the Melbourne Water-owned facility.
The workers' boss, Chris Lupton, told The Australian yesterday the four workers had been distressed by the venom aimed at them and that he had done his best to shield them from the blockade.
Members of the blockade were accused of threatening contractors on the site, allegedly including warnings in Spanish that they would be killed or have their throats cut.
A spokesman for the Immigration Department
confirmed yesterday that a union had filed a complaint against the workers. If the complaint is upheld, the workers will have 28 days to find another sponsor or be forced to leave the country.
Last week, the office of Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor said the 457 visas held by the Filpinos were valid.
But at the weekend, Mr O'Connor launched a controversial campaign to block foreign workers from entering Australia in what he said was a bid to protect local jobs.
The Filipinos are working for a rural firm, Briagolong Engineering, in eastern Victoria which has been engaged to help build a new water treatment facility on a short-term contract.
Under the 457 visa system, they can work in Australia for up to four years to perform skilled jobs where local workers cannot be found.
Briagolong has 11 staff on the site to perform a month's work while about 50 people are employed overall.
Mr Lupton said his central Gippsland company worked across Australia and sometimes overseas and needed staff who were prepared to travel widely for work, including to Papua New Guinea.
"They are real people and they've been threatened like buggery," Mr Lupton said.
"They're good lads, they've got feelings. They've been emotionally scarred."
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has denied any connection with the blockade.
The blockade was billed as a community event by unemployed Australian workers. Some of the participants had jobs, however.
One, an AMWU member from Geelong, wearing a shirt declaring "scab hunter", said the blockade was about protecting rights and conditions. The blockade leader, Nick Donohue, said yesterday he had also complained to the office of Julia Gillard about the use of foreign workers in an area with high unemployment.