Ever since the 7-Eleven migrant worker scandal broke in 2015, there has been a conga-line of stories about the systemic abuse of Australia’s various migrant worker programs and visa system.
The issue culminated last year when the Senate Education and Employment References Committee released a scathing report entitled A National Disgrace: The Exploitation of Temporary Work Visa Holders, which documented the abuses of Australia’s temporary visa system for foreign workers.
Back in August, Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), Natalie James, told Fairfax that people on visas continue to be exploited at an alarming rate, particularly those with limited English-language skills. It was also revealed that foreign workers are involved in more than three-quarters of legal cases initiated by the FWO against unscrupulous employers.
From Australia last journalist standing, Adele Ferguson today:
So far the compensation scheme has paid out more than $150 million to 3600 workers, which is the largest wage compensation payout in Australian corporate history. But thousands more were underpaid.
Earlier this year 7-Eleven changed its compensation scheme with many complaining the bar is now too high. It means some ex-staff never got their chance for proper wage justice under the new scheme. If 7-Eleven was sincere about making good on the sins of the past, it should have kept it open until such time as applications ceased coming in.
…It is perhaps why the cash-back emerged: an insidious practice whereby workers are paid the correct wages in their bank accounts but away from CCTV cameras and the biometric systems they are forced to give back half their pay in cash to dodgy franchisees. If they refuse they lose their jobs – or worse. Insiders say 7-Eleven knows the cash-back scam is gaining momentum but they haven’t done enough to address it.
Given Caltex has effortlessly gone through its network and terminated dozens of franchisees in similar circumstances, a cynic could be forgiven for thinking 7-Eleven has set a very high bar for what constitutes a breach worthy of termination.
This is Australia’s post-mining boom class war in action. Little wonder that Australian wages growth is so low when employers right across the country can so easily grab migrant workers under slave-like conditions instead of training and employing locals.
The Senate report on the exploitation of temporary foreign workers was released in March 2016, and yet 20 months later there has been minimal action from the federal government, with widespread rorting of Australia’s visa program continuing unabated.
The truth is, it does not want to fix it. It wants it to get worse. It’s only macroeconomic growth policy is to stuff the place with migrants and its only microeconomic one is to let a wave of vulnerable workers smash wages.
