Enough is enough!
We need to be asking the question “Where is our Australian work really going?” So many of us think our jobs are secure and our working conditions are sound, but the truth about this is far different. Many of us may think also that the Australian way of life is safe and well in our heartland, but so many questions have been brought up lately in the Australian media and reference is amde to a few examples in this article.
To start with, Chinese workers are taking Australian jobs away from our hard-working dedicated men and women. Chinese products are being imported into Australia, made by Chinese workers on low pay with minimal conditions and often living on the worksite. The conditions that underlie the Chinese economic boom allows the Chinese factories to do this.
An example of this is at the Miyaco factory where cheap handbags are handmade in just three hours by Chinese labor, they are made at a cost of around $10 to $11 Australian dollars and then sold in Australian shops for $190.[1
Now many of you may have seen a story about this, recently aired on Channel 9’s A Current Affair, in which the investigators went undercover to expose what exactly goes on in the Chinese factories (many of which use child labour) and just how bad the factories are. Time and time again we hear of hard working, decent Australian men and women losing their jobs to overseas workers just because its financially beneficial for the bosses. Now maybe that’s alright for them if they want to suffer those conditions for that particular job, but the point that must be hammered home is that Australian jobs are being lost to child labor factories overseas.
These workers take away jobs from Aussies, because it’s cheaper for the bigger industries to hire foreign workers who will put up with and tolerate terrible working conditions, but these bigger industry bosses don’t care at all about the basic Australian family and only care about making a bit more money at the end of the day.
Many people also may not know that over the past decade nearly 100,000 Australian manufacturing jobs have been lost [2; that’s far too many jobs being sent overseas when there are capable workers here at home. We don’t need to send our work overseas at all.
Chinese manufacturers also produce around a third of all the furniture sold in Australia [1 and Chinese factories use and abuse children as young as 13, who were caught working in those dirty factories by A Current Affair [1. Now imagine for a minute if that was your child or younger brother or sister; think how you would feel.
Now imagine, and no doubt many Australians have already experienced this at some stage, a foreign worker coming into your workplace, unskilled and under qualified, and replacing your job, your partner’s job, or your mate’s job, how would you feel? We say “Enough is enough”; it’s time for Australians to take a stand and do something about it, join a Australia First, join a union, or just take action to counter this growing problem.
If we want Australia to continue to be a prosperous nation, run by Australians, run on the back of a successful Australian economy, then something needs to be done both in the short and long term to counter this growing problem.
For many people, it seems that everything they buy, everything they wear, everything they use is made in China or some other Asian country. “What can we do?” you ask. Well, it is time to stop buying those foreign products whenever possible and buy Australian-made goods instead; even if it is going to cost you a little bit more at the supermarket checkout, you should pay it because it will give you peace of mind in the long run, as the work will stay in Australia and the factories will be full of hard-working Australians.
Australia First – The policy is in the name
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References:
[1 “Made in China Meet the opposition”, A Current Affair, 18 April 2007
http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=261876
(currency converter at http://www.xe.com/ucc/ used to convert US dollars)
[2 “China trade pact kills jobs report”, The Age, 26 April 2007
http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/china-trade-pact-kills-jobs-report/2007/04/25/1177459786014.html