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Aussie workers first: Maccas, KFC lose foreign workers
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Fast food businesses such as McDonalds and KFC will no longer be able to sponsor foreign workers on temporary visas unless they can prove a specific need, the federal government has announced.
“Australian workers, particularly young Australians, must be given priority,” Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said in a statement on Thursday.
Mr Dutton has ended the Fast Food Industry Labour Agreement, introduced by the Gillard government in 2012, which allowed hundreds of foreign workers take jobs at fast food outlets across Australia.
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However individual businesses will still be able to make requests under normal labour agreement arrangements to ensure that exceptional circumstances can be considered.
“Genuine business needs for overseas workers which contribute to economic growth will still be considered,” Mr Dutton said.
Existing foreign workers will be forced to leave Australia once their agreements run out unless their employer is able to present an individual case as to why they should remain in the country.
It is the first time an entire sector has been banned from using the visas.
Crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm supports the industry-wide ban, saying fast food is a training ground for young workers.
“And I’d love to see it retained as a training ground for young workers,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“If 457s are what’s preventing that then I think that’s unfortunate.”
The ban comes as all sides of politics gear up for battle over the coming reduction in penalty rates for fast food, hospitality and retail workers.
Liberal senator and former workplace relations minister, Eric Abetz, has called for penalty rates to be grandfathered in so any cuts would only affect future workers in the sectors.
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“It would mean no existing worker would have their income or household budget adversely impacted while supporting small business and assisting the unemployed,” he said.
His government colleagues were quick to shoot down the idea.
“He’s entitled to his opinion, but it’s not government policy,” Treasurer Scott Morrison told Sky News on Thursday.
