Union members who haven't had a pay rise since 2022 have been left dumbfounded as Australia’s biggest skydiving operator moves to replace their local workforce with foreign nationals during negotiations where workers are asking for better pay and conditions.
Experience Co, which operates Skydive Australia at jump sites across the country from Cairns to St Kilda, and many more in between, has proposed paying visa workers less than full time employees while applying to the government for access to 37 overseas workers to fill the shoes of local tandem skydiving instructors.
At the same time the company has axed its local training program which would have skilled up the next generation of Australians to work in the industry.
Unionised tandem skydiving instructors will be grounded from Friday morning (Feb 20) until Monday night (Feb 23) as they again take strike action in support of better pay and conditions for all skydive instructors.
The Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) says the move undermines local jobs in the lucrative tourism industry and is calling on Experience Co to stop looking overseas and return to the negotiating table.
“During a cost-of-living crisis our members are saying ‘let's make a deal’ - but instead the company is suggesting that they should accept terms that would see a foreign labourer on a visa earning less for doing the same job,” said Jonathan Cook, AWU National Organiser.
“We have current, local employees who want to be skydive instructors who are being grounded by an employer who’d rather bring in cheaper labour from overseas. It’s short-sighted and vindictive, and the AWU will be fiercely opposing the employer’s bid to the Department of Home Affairs.”
AWU National Secretary, Paul Farrow, also believes the company’s actions are reprehensible.
“We have a major employer who has said they won't train new staff and then go and apply for foreign labour instead. Now they are also saying they will also pay those visa workers less!” said Mr Farrow.
“We have an immigration system that seemingly rolls out the red carpet to companies who want to bring in foreign labour to avoid investing in training local workers and current employees who want to do the job.
“There’s no skills shortage here - just a desperate bid by an employer that is seemingly happy to cut off training and development for its own employees.
“Instead of having a system that lets bosses outsource their workforce, why don’t we have a system that rewards companies that train, develop and upskill their employees.”
AWU National Organiser, Jonathan Cook, says further strike action has become inevitable.
“Our members took 2 days of strike in December, 2 days of strike action last week and will now be on the grass for 4 more days to send the message - we want a deal that offers secure jobs, fair wage increases and safe workplaces,” said Mr Cook.
"What happened to ‘same job, same pay’? It seems to have a lot of loopholes if employers can use the government's migration system to undercut their full time Aussie employees.
“It’s not a big ask, back your staff and don’t gamble on foreign workers just to save a few dollars. Our members aren’t asking for anything extreme - just a secure job that recognises the high-risk work they perform.”
Contact: Tim Brunero 0405 285 547
