Why the World Cup is just not cricket
THE eyes of the sporting world will be on the Melbourne Cricket Ground tomorrow night when ancient enemies Australia and England meet to open the cricket World Cup.
A global audience of hundreds of millions is expected to tune in for the highly-anticipated opening match of the tournament, while Sunday’s clash between India and Pakistan in Adelaide is likely to set a cricket world record of more than a billion viewers.
But it won’t be Australian — or New Zealand — camera operators, sound people, editors and broadcast technicians putting the show together. They have been shut out of the tournament.
Instead, the pictures will be sent around the world from a crew of temporary foreign workers brought in especially for the tournament on a visa that allows them to be paid less than Australian workers would be.
The controversy over the use of foreign crew has cast a shadow over the beginning of the tournament, and will be the focus of protests outside the MCG tomorrow.
“There’s a lot of aspects to this that stink, that is shonky and is potentially dangerous to the sporting public and to workers in this industry,” said the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s director of crew and sport, Mal Tulloch.
“As a union we don’t support it, and we see it as a big issue the public should be very aware of and make their views known.”
Paid up to $230 less a day
The problem started when the International Cricket Council awarded the broadcast contract for the World Cup to a Singapore-based company, Broadcast Solutions.
Mr Tulloch said Broadcast Solutions had made no genuine attempt to employ local crews, and had used the controversial 400 visa sub-class to get around immigration and workplace laws.
They have brought in about 200 crew from South Africa, India and Malaysia, who will be paid about US$120 ($156) for a 10 to 12 hour day, compared to the Australian market rate of US$250 ($325) to US$300 ($390) a day.
“We think they are going to be treated like dogs while they’re here,” he said.
“They will be paid US$120 a day, which falls way short of what the award is, and with 200 people it’s going to mean a significant amount of money goes into the pocket of Broadcast Solutions.
“We also believe the standard of the coverage will not be up to the standard the Australian public expects because they’ve done it cheap.”
Some major international sporting events in Australia, such as the tennis Australian Open in Melbourne and the Tour Down Under bicycle race in South Australia and soccer’s Asian Cup, have been permitted to use some international staff to boost local crew numbers, but had paid them Australian rates, Mr Tulloch said.
In those cases, the foreign workers were granted 420 visas, a special visa sub-class for the entertainment industry that allows foreign performers or production staff to work in Australia temporarily.
“There’s a lot of aspects to this that stink, that is shonky and is potentially dangerous to the sporting public and to workers in this industry.”
But to successfully apply for workers to be brought in on a 420 visa, an employer must demonstrate that the imported workers genuinely have skills that are not available locally, and must pass a net employment benefit test to prove that their production will create jobs for local workers.
Employers also must usually work with the union to comply with Australian employment and health and safety laws.
Most importantly, the union’s involvement ensures that market and award rates of pay are not undercut.
But Mr Tulloch said no such requirement exists for the 400 visa and the special dispensation granted to the cricket World Cup was about profit, and profit alone.
What makes the government’s decision to allow foreign crews in for the World Cup even more perplexing is that ever since the World Series Cricket days in the 1970s when Kerry Packer and Channel Nine revolutionised the way cricket is seen on television, Australia has been generally acknowledged as the world leader for innovative and top quality cricket broadcasting.
“There’s a number of broadcast technicians that will be unemployed during the World Cup cricket … there wasn’t any real approach by Broadcast Solutions to test the local market.
“They are obviously going to exploit people, make a lot of money out of their broadcasting rights by lowering their labour costs [and] they will make significant profits.
“It’s purely an economic decision that has been made here.”
Thin edge of the wedge?
The MEAA is seeking to meet with Broadcast Solutions and the ICC to argue that the foreign crews should be paid the same as Australians would be.
Mr Tulloch said while the lack of jobs for local technicians was the immediate concern, in the longer-term, a review of the 420 visa was underway which could result in less regulation of the use of foreign production crews and a further watering down of workplace protections and controls for overseas workers.
“If we do not have those important checks and balances in the system, this is the result that is going to happen in Australia more frequently and we will see that essentially the broadcast technicians here in Australia will be unemployable and we’ll lose that expertise.”
Mr Tulloch said a recent day of action at the SCG and an online petition had shown the Australian cricket public were appalled by what had happened, and the ICC had to be held accountable.
He said the federal government had to also step into ensure that Australia’s immigration and border control laws had not been breached and that the foreign crews would not be exploited and underpaid while in Australia.
New Zealand’s Labour Party has condemned the use of foreign workers for the cricket showcase.
Out of work Australian broadcast professionals will also have a strong presence at Gate 2 at the MCG tomorrow.
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