UNION leaders are threatening to take on more Gillard government ministers in the fight over foreign workers as they defy calls to abandon the protest over jobs at Gina Rinehart's $9.5 billion Roy Hill mine.
Cabinet ministers, including Anthony Albanese, Bill Shorten and Stephen Smith, rebuked the unions yesterday for launching a campaign against Special Minister of State Gary Gray over his part in migration deals aimed at helping to build major resource projects.
But West Australian union leaders rebuffed the criticism and said they would go ahead with a protest against Mr Gray on June 16 and would discuss whether to target other ministers.
The union campaign threatens to widen the Labor rift over the resources boom after Immigration Minister Chris Bowen approved Ms Rinehart's plan to bring in 1700 foreign workers to help build a mine that will create 8000 jobs.
Four unions are demanding the government replace its optional "jobs board" with a mandatory scheme to force mining and gas companies to hire Australian applicants before getting the chance to import workers under enterprise migration agreements.
The Australian
No comments:
Post a Comment