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Issue Number 32, October 2009
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Kapatiran Issue
No. 32, October 2009
MIGRANTS
GROUP DEPLORES TELECOM AND PARTNERS' NEW MODEL FOR MORE
UNEMPLOYMENT
- Migrante Aotearoa
The Filipino migrants group Migrante Aotearoa New Zealand
raised alarm that Telecom and its business partner
Visionstream are experimenting with a new model on how
companies can forego their responsibilities, increase
unemployment and disregard workers' rights to job
security. Workers are required to switch from working for
the company as employees to being sub-contracted owner
operators. To become a subcontractor to Visionstream, one
has to have between $20,000 and $30,000 to be in business
and the former workers will take on all the associated
risk. Workers will have to choose if they want to become
heavily indebted or be out of work.
Migrante Aotearoa national coordinator Dennis Maga says:
"It's unfortunate that while Government and some
employers are trying to ease impacts of the recession,
Telecom chose a business model that doesn't offer a fair
deal for Kiwis and migrants. We are very concerned that
Visionstream's model might be copied by other companies
and therefore displace more local and migrant workers. We
urge the present Government, unions, workers and
communities to speak out against Visionstream's scheme.
Telecom's intention to see the model roll out throughout
the country in their contracting out schemes, whether it
is under Visionstream, Downers or Transfield must be
opposed. Downers and Transfield will not be able to
compete against Visionstream for the Telecom contracts
anywhere unless they also introduce the model
themselves," the group stressed.
Around 400 migrant workers stand to lose jobs as the
Telecom's Chorus division in Auckland and Northland due
to its decision to sign a new contract with Visionstream.
Half of the affected workers are Filipinos and the rest
are British, South Africans and Fiji Indians. Many are on
work permits and cannot become self employed
subcontractors. Ariel Guanlao, a residential fault man
who worked for Telecom for three years, was a former
employee of Philippine Long Distance Company (PLDT) for
16 years. Guanlao is a Migrante leader in Auckland and
member of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing
Union (EPMU).
"I opted to work in this country thinking I had
better prospect of job security as I had skills in the
shortage list. When Telecom announced that 900 jobs will
be lost, I don't think the company is losing profits.
This isn't a usual case of redundancy. Telecom's new
contract with Visionstream is clearly anti-migrant and
one of the worst forms of union busting and business
profiteering at the expense of workers' rights and
welfare, Guanlao stated.
"Three years ago I was recruited here with the
promise that NZ is 'the right choice.' I became a
permanent resident under the Work-to-Residence policy. I
worry about the fate of work permit holders. Like them, I
have no job to return to in the Philippines. Telecom
shattered our dreams," Guanlao lamented. "Under
Visionstream's model, Filipinos and other migrants face
the slimmest chance to retain their jobs. It is
deplorable that business giants take advantage of the
current economic climate to justify massive job layoffs
and introduce new employment models," Mr Maga added.
"Workers like Guanlao did not come here to steal
jobs from Kiwis but to fill the gap in the country's
skills shortage. Telecom recruited hundreds of skilled
migrants but now it's clear that Telecom and partner
Visionstream are driven by greed for profits and lack the
vision to protect workers' rights to job security,"
Mr Maga concluded. #
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