[Agingcoder]

You can't : if I were in their shoes I simply wouldn't believe you, and would leave as quickly as possible.

You could try giving them 'unbreakable' contracts (pay X with X big if you end up firing them) but even then, they know that if it's only about money, they will eventually be fired.

Basically, it looks like you now have one giant trust issue.

If I were a bit cynical, I'd say it's a great way for US management to get rid of the entire Australian team without having to deal with the complexities of firing everyone at once (which might be difficult or expensive in some countries, I don't know about Australia ).