'Imported slaves' dig desert ditches

Holy Shit the Assholes are here in Australia, committing their corruption.

By Bryan Littlely
February 13, 2006

IMPORTED Indonesian workers have allegedly been paid as little as $40 a day to dig ditches in the South Australian desert.

Drilling company Halliburton Australia employed a team of Indonesians for labouring jobs at its gas extraction operations in the Cooper Basin late last year.

Australians who worked alongside the Indonesians have now told The Advertiser the imported staff worked 80 days straight, were housed in poor work camp accommodation and had some meals laced with pork so they were unfit for the Muslim employees to eat.

Halliburton last week confirmed the global company employs imported workers from Indonesia, Europe and the U.S. for their operations throughout Australia.

"(We employ workers) from wherever we have an office base," a Perth-based human resources officer said.

When The Advertiser asked about the claims that workers were underpaid and mistreated while employed by the drilling company, Halliburton referred inquiries to its offices in Houston, Texas. Despite three days of requests to Halliburton in Australia and the U.S., they have not answered the claims.

It is understood the Indonesian workers, who were employed until at least Christmas, came to Australia under temporary labour visas similar to those issued to 34 Croatian and Slovenian workers who, The Advertiser last week revealed, are building a paint shop at Holden's Elizabeth plant.

Australian Workers' Union state secretary Wayne Hanson said yesterday it was widely considered that any company hiring "guest workers", particularly from Asian countries, for work in the Outback are "exploiting" those workers. "I'm not surprised (by the claims)," Mr Hanson said.

"It's indicative of the arrangements that happen in that industry.

"You're talking about people working in the hostile heart of our country that's quite inhospitable. Some of those conditions contractors work under are absolute extreme sweatshop-like conditions."

The minimum pay Australian workers can expect for the same type of work undertaken by the imported workers is about $15 an hour. The Indonesian workers dug trenches and helped in the tapping of gas shafts, performing duties not regarded as highly skilled work.

It is alleged they worked 12-hour shifts for 80 days without a break and were paid $40 a day for the first 40 days and $80 a day for the second half of the stint. According to workers who had befriended the Indonesians, they considered their pay to be good, it being far more than they could earn in their home country.

Federal Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said yesterday he was "genuinely shocked" if the skilled migration system had "got as bad as that".

"I knew skilled migration was being used to justify cuts to education and training and drive wages down," Mr Burke said.

"Skilled migration is meant to be used for filling gaps we weren't prepared for. Instead, it's being used to cut training places and slash wages. It puts young Australians in a position of having to be willing to sign individual contracts at below living standard wages or they won't get the opportunities," he said.

Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone says that temporary visas are an important part of a flexible, competitive economy and her department does an outstanding job in processing quick approvals and then in ensuring that employers comply with conditions.

Wikipedia: Halliburton

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