KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 ― The government has approved the standard operating procedures (SOPs) proposed by the Human Resource Ministry for foreign workers to enter the country, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said today.

Ismail, who chairs the Covid-19 Special Committee on Pandemic Management, said the move was in response to labour shortages, particularly in the plantation sector.

“These SOPs will be enforced in all designated sectors and approved on a case-by-case basis by the Foreign Workers Committee co-chaired by the home affairs minister and the human resources minister.

“The Covid-19 Special Committee on Pandemic Management meeting today also approved the SOPs on the entry of foreign workers into the country. Meanwhile, quotas and dates of entry of foreign workers for other employment sectors are subject to the decision of the Joint Meeting of the Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister of Human Resources,” Ismail said in a statement.

Among others, the SOPS require that the workers must be fully vaccinated in their home countries using vaccines approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and produce certificates to prove this.

The workers must also undergo the RT-PCR test 72 hours before departure and would still be required to undergo a quarantine for a period to be fixed by the Ministry of Health (MoH).

Currently the mandatory quarantine period is seven days. The workers must also perform the quarantine at government-approved facilities in the Klang Valley.

However, Thai nationals working on local fishing vessels will be allowed to quarantine at centres near to the entry points.

The foreign workers must also undergo RT-PCR tests on the second and fifth day of their quarantine. Should they test positive, those who fall under Categories 1 and 2 of the Covid-19 infection must be isolated at a private Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centre (PKRC), whereas those who fall under the more serious Categories 3,4 and 5 must be referred to private hospitals.

“The government would like to urge that these concessions be exercised with great discipline and responsibility. The success of bringing the country out of this pandemic does not only depend on the government’s efforts and strategies alone.

“It is also very much dependent on the level of community compliance towards the established SOPs. Therefore, wear a face mask, practise physical distancing and always take care of your personal hygiene and safety,” Ismail added.

Friday, 22 Oct 2021 07:07 PM

BY YISWAREE PALANSAMY

Eifel October 22, 2021

PUTRAJAYA (Sept 7): The agricultural visa scheme implemented in Australia known as the Farm Labour Visa Scheme was among the matters discussed by Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr M.Saravanan and Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia Dr Justin Lee today.

Saravanan received a courtesy call from Lee at his office here.

The Human Resources Ministry (KSM), in a statement issued in conjunction with the visit said the scheme provides employment opportunities in the agricultural sector to migrants due to the lack of response from local workers in Australia.

“The same thing is happening in Malaysia’s plantation sector where the government is studying the best practices from various countries including Australia,” it said.

KSM said the meeting also discussed opportunities for strategic cooperation between Malaysia and Australia in human resources and human capital development which touched on aspects of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), as well as upskilling and reskilling the workforce.

The discussion also touched on the proposed cooperation to improve the country’s image in addressing forced labour, where KSM is the Chairman of the Special Committee to Study the Issues of Labour Trafficking under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Council (MAPO).

“Australia has also expressed its desire to increase investment in Malaysia in high-tech industrial sectors such as the renewable energy sector where local expertise and skills in areas related to high technology are needed,” said the statement.

Bernama

Eifel September 8, 2021

~ A new agriculture visa aimed at plugging a labour shortage will allow migrant farm workers into Australia for three years and in some cases beyond

~ It is targeted primarily at Asians, but advocate groups warn it could fuel exploitation and may be partly motivated by perceptions that this group is ‘easier to control and cheaper’

Three years ago, Audi Melsom quit his job as a designer at MetroTV, one of Indonesia’s largest television broadcasters, and headed to the Northern Territory in Australia, aiming to work odd jobs and explore the country.

Like most Indonesians on Australia’s Working Holiday Maker visa – a scheme that annually allows up to 5,000 Indonesians below the age of 30 to spend up to three years in Australia working and vacationing – Audi worked as a farm labourer.

Audi has picked mangoes, watermelons and pumpkins in the Northern Territory, raspberries and tomatoes in Queensland, and grapes and figs in Victoria, earning anywhere from A$20 (US$14.5) to A$35 per hour. In some cases, he was a “piece-rate” worker, paid for the amount of produce he picked, rather than a fixed hourly rate.

Now, Canberra is launching a new visa designed to increase the number of foreigners working on Australian farms. In making partnership agreements for the visa, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has said the government will “be targeting countries that we already have long-standing bilateral agreements with – the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea”. Other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), including Indonesia, are also likely to be on the shortlist.

The Australian Agriculture visa seeks to provide a long-term solution to labour shortages reported by the farming sector, which accounts for around 3 per cent of Australia’s GDP.

The new agriculture visa will allow migrant farm labourers to work in Australia for three years, with a requirement to return to their home country for three months of every year. Unlike the Working Holiday Maker visa, if migrant workers agree to work in approved industries beyond the three years, they can also apply for permanent residency.

However, migrant worker advocates say the visa could exacerbate employee exploitation on Australian farms, such as underpayment, exorbitant accommodation charges and unscrupulous hiring companies. The Australian Workers Union warns that the visa will “exacerbate the already rampant abuse and exploitation” in the sector.

Farmers groups argue their image has been tainted by the actions of a small number of unscrupulous growers, but research suggests that exploitation is widespread.

A 2020 report compiled by unions and the Migrant Workers Centre found that 80 per cent of surveyed piece-rate workers had been underpaid. A 2018 inquiry by Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman found that half of the investigated businesses had breached workplace laws, including misuse of piece rates, underpayments of the hourly rate and non-payment for time worked.

Substandard accommodation is another commonly reported problem. Audi said he sometimes paid up to A$150 dollars a week for accommodation near the farm and the only options were dirty, insect-infested sheds with holes in the floor.

On some farms Audi’s relationships with bosses and managers was amicable. On others, he described the atmosphere as “like the military”.

“They [supervisors] had no tolerance for new, inexperienced workers. Many people were fired after one day. We were working under the sun in 40 degree temperatures. At one point, my nose was bleeding. But I kept working, because I was afraid of being fired too,” he said.

Audi has documented his experiences in Australia on his YouTube channel #VLOGSTRALIA, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Fears of exploitation

Given better work options in and around the cities of the highly urbanised nation, most Australians avoid farm work. Migrant workers now make up most the 130,000-strong horticulture workforce, and at least a third of these migrant workers are Working Holiday Maker visa holders. Others are under more tightly regulated schemes only available to citizens of Pacific Island nations, Papua New Guinea and Timor leste.

The National Farmers Federation has long argued for the necessity of a targeted agriculture visa to meet labour shortages on fruit and vegetable farms. According to the farmer federation’s own survey figures, around 80 per cent of farmers have experienced “significant difficulty” finding workers.

However, some farm sector researchers believe that a visa primarily targeting Asian countries is not solely based on the large number of potential migrant workers in these countries. In a 2018 report, industry expert Joanna Howe, a professor at the University of Adelaide, wrote that “employer preferences for particular groups of migrant workers are based less on a shortage of workers and more on a perception that these workers are easier to control and cheaper”.

Audi suspects Asian migrant workers are preferred because they can be pushed for higher levels of productivity than European backpackers, who also work on farms to secure their second and third year Working Holiday visas.

“Asian workers were more accepting of supervisors who got angry, yelled at them, called them names. The Europeans would definitely fight back,” he said.

It’s still unclear how closely the government will regulate the visa though in its announcement, it pledged to ensure “a high degree of integrity and safeguards”. The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment did not respond to follow-up questions.

The National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson said the new visa must differ from other seasonal worker schemes as “ … the costs involved and the requirement to provide many months of work to sponsored workers mean they don’t suit most farms”.

“What is needed is a more flexible, portable visa to enable workers to move from farm to farm. Many smaller family farms can’t give seasonal workers the amount of work needed under those specific visas and the upfront payments,” she said.

Former deputy secretary of Australia’s Department of Immigration Abul Rizvi, who is now a policy consultant in Canberra, said that “a tripartite industry, union and government body should be established to deal with complaints and given the power to prosecute employers and labour-hire companies in breach of labour laws”.

The farmers federation supports the creation of a coordinating body responsible for ensuring migrant workers’ well-being, but the inclusion of unions will be controversial.

Peak industry bodies like the farmers federation have recently fought a Fair Work Commission case brought by the workers union that would impose a minimum wage floor under the piece-rate system. The ire of farmers has also been raised by a United Workers Union campaign to unionise migrant farm workers over the last five years.

The Australian government has said that the visa’s design “will depend on negotiations with partner countries”, so the governments of these countries can also play a part in ensuring that effective worker protections are built into the programme.

Eifel August 30, 2021

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) says decision makers need to stop passing the buck on their responsibilities for quarantining overseas seasonal workers and offer real solutions to fill the projected 24,000 vacant positions on farms across Australia in coming months.

VFF President Emma Germano said recent comments by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews that the newly announced Ag Visa is ‘a fantasy’ is cold comfort for nervous farmers ahead of peak production times.

“Farmers are certainly not living in a fantasy world at the moment. The reality is our industry as a whole is facing labour shortages of more than 24,000 workers across Australia.”

“Once again farmers could be forced to plough crops into the ground and watch produce rot on tress again this year.”

 “What we need is for the Victorian and Federal Governments to offer real, progressive and future-minded decisions and solutions and not resort to political point scoring with no real action.”

Ms Germano added that with the recently announced Ag Visa that is promised to be in place by 30 September 2021, the details of the quarantine arrangements needs to streamlined as a priority.

“The fact is it’s been more than 18 months since COVID-19 first arrived in Australia and our leaders are still feuding over quarantine arrangements and facilities.”

“We need our leaders to deliver a solution and a pathway forward immediately and we will be holding them to account on this,” Ms Germano said.

Eifel August 25, 2021

[SINGAPORE] For Singapore to be truly innovative, it should turn education and healthcare into major exportable services, digitalise its economy end-to-end, and take the lead in Asia on the green economy.

It also needs a strong Singaporean core to work alongside the best global talents, said Singapore’s central bank chief on Wednesday.

Speaking on the topic “An Innovative Economy” at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), Monetary Authority of Singapore managing director Ravi Menon said some steps that could be taken include raising the qualifying salaries of foreign workers here, as well as stemming discriminatory hiring practices.

It was the second of four lectures he is giving in his capacity as IPS’s ninth S R Nathan Fellow. The fellowship advances research on public policy and governance.

Mr Menon cited education and healthcare as two areas that can be turned into major exportable services.

“Can Singapore be the Oxbridge of Asia for education and the Mayo of Asia for healthcare?

“Given the trust premium Singapore enjoys and the high quality of our education and healthcare systems, coupled with the rise of a more discerning Asian middle class, the stars might be aligned for such a pivot.”

The export intensity of the country’s education and healthcare services, he observed, has not improved over the years.

In 2017, about 13 per cent of the output in education services was exported, just slightly higher than the 12 per cent in 2010; while the export intensity of healthcare services fell from 15 to 10 per cent during this period.

He added that Singapore cannot be a high-wage, low-cost economy.

Instead, it must become a high-productivity, high-wage, high-cost economy – where most people can bear the higher costs because they have higher wages, and can earn higher wages because they have higher productivity.

Citing studies which show that countries with high labour costs can also be highly competitive, he said: “We should aim to create a self-reinforcing virtuous cycle of higher wages and costs accompanied by higher productivity, as well as higher purchasing power and willingness to pay for higher quality domestic services.

“It will not be easy and the transition has to be carefully managed. But it’s worth trying.”

DIGITALISING END-TO-END

Being digital end-to-end means two things, said Mr Menon: Digitalising business processes within a firm by fully integrating front-end operations with the back-end; and ensuring that digital systems across firms are interoperable.

A comprehensive digital ecosystem, he said, requires collective governance, common standards, open architecture and interoperable infrastructure.

“This means taking a risk-based approach to regulating new technology. Regulators need to keep pace with innovation but regulation itself must not front-run innovation.”

He highlighted the importance of transparency in fostering trust in a digital economy. Users, he said, must be given clear explanations of what data is being used, how it is being used, as well as the consequences of decisions made using the data.

The authorities should also seriously consider mandating basic cyber hygiene for all businesses engaged in the digital economy, he said, calling actions such as installing security patches promptly and data encryption “as essential as fire safety requirements”.

SINGAPOREAN CORE WITH GLOBAL TALENT

The Republic’s two-pronged talent strategy – of growing a strong Singaporean core while attracting talents from abroad to complement the workforce – is coming under strain amid growing unhappiness among locals over job competition from foreigners, said Mr Menon.

He cautioned that the country’s value proposition as an innovative business hub will be at “serious risk” if it restricts the flow of talent. But the anxieties that some Singaporeans feel about the influx of foreigners are real and need to be addressed too, he said.

“We need to resolve this affective divide… Singapore cannot afford to be seen either as lacking in opportunity for our own citizens or unwelcoming of foreigners.”

He suggested doing two things: First, continue to raise the minimum qualifying salary for S Pass holders and Employment Pass (EP) holders over time, with the minimum qualifying salary for S Pass holders pegged somewhere closer to the median monthly income, or around S$4,500.

S Pass holders currently earn at least S$2,500 a month, with older, more experienced applicants needing higher salaries to qualify.

He cautioned against tightening EPs at the higher end, as it could lead to the loss of adjacent local jobs.

This is because highly skilled EP holders tend to create employment for locals by facilitating business expansion into new areas, rather than substituting for them, he said.

Second, more directly target discriminatory hiring in favour of foreigners in some firms.

“Rather than curtail the inflow of foreign workers and thereby restrain business growth and job opportunities for locals, we might want to consider directly punishing the individuals in the firm found to have engaged in discriminatory hiring,” he said.

Such measures could include imposing financial penalties, reducing bonuses and freezing promotions.

Mr Menon stressed that being an international hub is the only way a small country like Singapore can aspire to First World standards of living.

Singapore, he said, attained its current level of prosperity by being an international centre tapping international talents and serving an international market. But this also means that it must accept a higher foreign presence in Singapore than is the case in other countries.

“We can accept this as long as the foreigners who come here are of high quality, help to expand economic activity, and thereby help to create job opportunities for Singaporeans… and Singaporeans are always treated fairly.”

THE STRAITS TIMES

Eifel July 14, 2021

Australia’s Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management David Littleproud, has announced an agriculture visa will become available in 2021.  The new visa is a result of Australia’s trade discussions with the UK in which it was agreed that British backpackers would no longer be required to work on Australian farms to retain their visas.  The arrangement will release British tourists from often undesired requirement, and provide an opportunity for other travellers to visit Australia.

Who can get the Agriculture visa?

In the initial stages, the agriculture visa will be rolled out to residents of countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The current member nations of ASEAN are:

  • Brunei
  • Cambodia
  • Indonesia
  • Laos
  • Malaysia
  • Myanmar
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • Thailand
  • Vietnam

When will the Agriculture visa be available?

Michael McCormack, leader of the National Party and Acting Prime Minister while Scott Morrison was in Cornwall for the G7 Summit, promised the new visa would be available by September 2021.  David Littleproud has said it will be in place by the end of the year at the latest, stating “it will be up and running well before Christmas”.

 

How will the Agriculture visa work?

Under the proposal, applicants will receive a visa to live in Australia for 3 years provided they:

  1. Perform agricultural work for the bulk of their time in Australia; and
  2. Return to their home nation for 3 months of every year.

The details are yet to be defined but the visa is said to differ from the Seasonal Worker Programme in that employer sponsorship will not be required.  This opens doors for more travellers and grants them the freedom to change employers once in Australia if they are not receiving adequate wages or working conditions whereas previously they may have found themselves ingratiated to their sponsor.

 

Protections for workers

It is important that all working visa holders in Australia understand their rights and how to enforce them.  In the past, some unscrupulous farmers have taken advantage of travellers, paying them lower than the minimum legal wage and in some cases even abusing them.  In Australia the minimum wage an employee can be legally paid is AUD $19.84 per hour, before tax.  Horticultural workers like fruit pickers however, are often paid a piecemeal rate per unit picked or processed (eg. $1 per bucket of apples) rather than an hourly rate.  This type of job is covered by a law called the Horticulture Award.  While such fruit picking type roles are not paid by the hour,  the law says the rate of pay must be enough that the “average competent employee” would be able to earn at least 15% more than the minimum wage.

In order to give migrant workers additional protection, the Federal Governmen has proposed new laws which would make it much harder for employers to exploit vulnerable people.  Any employer who attempts to:

  • coerce a visa holder to accept a work agreement that breaches their visa conditions; or
  • coerce a visa holder to accept a work arrangement by leading the visa holder to believe that if they do not accept, they will be breaching their visa conditions,

may be fined up to AU $399,600 and/or receive a sentence of up to 2 years’ imprisonment.

Anyone who is not receiving an adequate wage for the work they are doing, or is living in poor or dangerous conditions can get free advice and help from the Fair Work Ombudsman.  A worker cannot get in trouble or have their visa cancelled for contacting the Fair Work Ombudsman – this is called the Assurance Protocol and it is in place to ensure visa holders can get help when they need it without fear of punishment or deportation.  

 

What work would I be doing?

There over a hundred types of farm jobs for agricultural visitors.  Most of these positions are picking, packing and processing of fruits such as blueberries, mangoes and citrus.  Opportunities depending on your skills and experience could include:

  • Dairy farming;
  • Cotton harvesting;
  • Vegetable picking;
  • Livestock care;
  • Medicinal marijuana farming;
  • Solar farming; and
  • Grain harvesting.

 

Getting here

Of course the big question is, once a visa is granted how will tourists come to Australia?  With caps on incoming international flights still limiting arrivals, getting a plane ticket may be the biggest hurdle.  What priority agricultural workers will be given in relation to other visa holders, such as students, is not yet clear.  We await further announcements from the Federal Government on how this plan will work without a negative impact on international students and family visa holders.  It may be that a vaccine passport eradicates the need for quarantine in future and flight caps can be lifted, but this remains to be seen.

 

Will it really happen?

Given the past performance of the Australian Government on the vaccination delivery schedule and the return of international students, it is only natural to be dubious about this visa coming to fruition.  National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson said she would believe it only when it actually happened.  Mr Littleproud however said he has “an undertaking from the Prime Minister… to have it up and going by the end of the year”.  Until the details are formalised we’re cautiously optimistic but one thing is for certain, as Jawaharlal Nehru the first Prime Minister of India once said: “everything can wait, but not agriculture”.

by Chris Johnston, Founder and Principal Lawyer at Work Visa Lawyers

Eifel June 18, 2021

Australia is looking to recruit Southeast Asian farm workers as the pandemic and a new free-trade deal with the U.K. exacerbates labor shortages in the nation’s A$66 billion ($51 billion)-a-year agriculture industry.

The government aims to offer three-year working visas by the end of the year to citizens from the 10 Asean countries, which include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday. Australia already has a similar arrangement in place with Pacific Island nations.

With Australians reluctant to pick up what is often considered to be strenuous manual labor, reliance on foreigners has long been a crux to an industry that has seen a shrinking and aging local workforce.

The government has attempted to attract backpackers — who must already complete at least three months of agricultural work for a typical two-year working-holiday stay — with the offer of a visa extension on the completion of a longer farm stint. Still, their number has plunged from 160,000 pre-pandemic to less than 40,000 as the nation’s borders were closed to almost all non-residents, leaving some goods not sown or left to rot unpicked.

Labor shortages were flagged by the government forecaster as a continuing “vulnerability” for the industry as the pandemic extends through 2021, with Australia unlikely to loosen its strict border controls until well into next year.

With global food price inflation already tracking higher as farm supplies tighten, any hiccup in the supply chain could hit household budgets hard. The Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index, which tracks key farm products, surged last month to reach the highest level since 2012.

Much of the impact on end prices, especially in the fruit and vegetable sector which depends more heavily on manual labor, has so far been mitigated by changes to farm management.

Still, labor shortages remain and are set to get worse under Australia’s new free-trade agreement that Prime Minister Scott Morrison inked in London on Tuesday with counterpart Boris Johnson.

Under the deal, backpackers from the U.K. will no longer need to work in the agriculture industry to fulfill visa requirements. That could reduce the number working on Australian farms by a further 10,000 a year, Littleproud said.

U.K., Australia Seal Trade Deal in Boost for Boris Johnson

Meanwhile, a lack of dedicated quarantine facilities has meant only 7,000 workers from the 10 Pacific nations are currently in Australia, even though that visa program allows for 25,000 arrivals.

Littleproud called on the states to ramp up the construction of facilities, otherwise “farmers will make that commercial decision not to plant” during the nation’s forthcoming spring.

‘Smashed By Covid-19’

“We’ve been smashed by Covid-19,” Littleproud said. The new Asean visa program “sets the parameters, creates the environment now for the agriculture industry to have confidence that they’re going to have a constant seasonal workforce into the future,” he said.

Asked whether the arriving Southeast Asian workers, many of whom may have limited English-language skills, could be exploited or underpaid, Littleproud labeled such reports as “dangerous generalizations of demonization of Australian farmers.”

2016 survey of working-holiday makers found 66% felt that employers took advantage of them through underpayments. The Australian Broadcasting Corp reported that year that a group of Pacific Islanders from countries including Fiji and Tonga were being paid less than A$10 a week.

“That is not the general nature of Australian farming industry,” Littleproud said. “The vast majority do the right thing.

By  and 

Eifel June 16, 2021

PUTRAJAYA, Mar 15 — Fifty-nine employers will be charged in court this month under the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446) (Amendment) 2019, with 124 investigation papers already opened.

Minister of Human Resources, Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said among the charges to be made were under Sections 24D, 24H and 24J, and Regulations 3 and 4 of the Act.

The charge under Section 24D involves no certification for the workers’ accommodation while under Section 24J, it is for not providing separate accommodation for the different sexes.

“The investigations on the cases involve various sectors such as rubber glove, furniture and other  product manufacturing, construction and retail.

“All employers and workers’ centralised accommodation providers who have not applied for certification of these premises are reminded to do so fast to avoid stern action under Act 446,” Saravanan said at a press conference, here, today.   

Before being amended in 2019, Act 446 only covered the housing and accommodations of workers in the plantation sector for plantations exceeding 20 hectares in size, as well as the mining sector but now the Act covers all sectors, besides incorporating new regulations on workers’ housing standards and amenities.

Saravanan said during the enforcement of Act 446 under the Emergency Ordinance, 3,256 employers involving 17,576 accommodations were checked between last Feb 26 and March 11, with eight investigated cases allowed to be compounded.

The Emergency Ordinance which became effective from Feb 26, among others, issued an order for employers and workers’ centralised accommodation providers to provide temporary accommodation for the workers when the current accommodations were thought to be not safe or unsuitable.

Those who fail to comply with the order could be fined up to RM200,000 or jailed not exceeding three years or both, if found guilty.

“We’re still giving the opportunity for the companies or employers to rectify their weaknesses, taking into consideration the economic slowdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic. When we prepare the investigation papers, we will also look at and consider their financial situation,” said Saravanan. — Bernama

Eifel March 15, 2021

KUALA LUMPUR: The Covid-19 screening for foreign workers will now include those in retail and services sectors, which are allowed to resume from tomorrow.

Eifel February 18, 2021

KUALA LUMPUR: The Covid-19 screening for foreign workers will now include those in retail and services sectors, which are allowed to resume from tomorrow.

Eifel February 9, 2021