It's a victory for local workers this week, with local engineering company Varley Group securing a contract to unload wind turbine cargo at Newcastle Port.
The change comes after a shipping company who previously used Singaporean workers on 457 visas to do the job, caved from community pressure.
Maritime workers held a protest at Newcastle Port earlier this month in protest of foreign workers taking their jobs.
Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon says this turnaround is a terrific win for Newcastle locals.
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| Workers protesting at Newcastle Port [Image: Maritime Executive] |
She says the Unions were a key factor in keeping the work local.
"The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union and the Maritime Union of Australia have done a great job in bringing community workers together to ensure that this outrageous attempt to deploy a fly-in crew from Singapore to do the work that men and women in Newcastle have been doing for generations - it's great to see they've been able to garner enough community support and pressure to stop that practice in Newcastle."
According to the MP, when companies give these contracts to foreign workers, it's often a case of exploitation for the sake of profit.
"They're paying those overseas workers lower wages and not paying attention to their level of skills," she said.
"It's just a classic case of a company trying to cut corners on safety and further suppress wages and conditions in order to make a bigger profit at the end of the day."
Despite the victory, Sharon Claydon still believes we need to be on our guard to help protect Australian jobs.
