The company allegedly caught using illegal workers at a BlueScope site last week could face fines of up to $66,000, according to the Department of Immigration.Auburn-based Lifese Engineering is being investigated after a raid eight days ago at the No 5 blast furnace reline project, which resulted in 15 South Korean nationals being escorted from the site.Three of the men did not have visas, while it is alleged the remaining 12 were carrying visas that did not include permission to work.
Immigration raid at Bluescope Lifese, which provided welders to the reline project, was contracted by Port Kembla-based Maintech Services, who in turn were contracted by BlueScope.Maintech Services would only say "it has nothing to do with us".Lifese did not return the Mercury's calls.In 2007 the Department of Immigration and Citizenship introduced laws to penalise employers using illegal migrant workers.Individual employers face maximum fines of $13,200 or two years in prison, while companies can face penalties up to $66,000. First time offenders get a warning.A Department of Immigration spokesman said the investigation into Lifese was continuing.Charges would only be laid if recommended by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.Since the laws were introduced two years ago, the department has located 2184 illegal workers, but no employer or company has been charged.The spokesman would not say if Lifese had been caught using illegal workers in the past.Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union NSW assistant secretary Tim Ayres said they had sought a project agreement with Lifese to cover all workers on the reline project."We have not been able to achieve that," Mr Ayres said. "We are concerned that people are out there undercutting decent wages and conditions and we are, in particular, concerned about reports that came out about Lifese last week in regard to illegal workers."A BlueScope spokesman said their contractual arrangements were with the prime contractor, in this case, Maintech Services, not the subcontractor, Lifese Engineering."Within our due diligence procedures around major contracts we seek assurances that all employees of the contractor are eligible to participate in work on our site," the spokesman said."We have been given those assurances by our contractors. Both BlueScope Steel and the contractor who engaged the subcontractor of interest ... conducted random audits of the eligibility of some foreign-born workers to work on the project. "Those people audited were found to have the correct immigration documentation."
