Workers welcoming South American with tools (8)

I believe the answer is:

handsaws

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'tools' is the definition.
(handsaw is a kind of tool)

'workers welcoming south american' is the wordplay.
'workers' becomes 'hands' (hand is a kind of worker).
'welcoming south american' becomes 'aws' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'hands'+'aws'='HANDSAWS'

'with' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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