In 2017, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) revealed that migrant workers were involved in more than 75% of legal actions launched against unscrupulous employers. And last year, a FWO audit across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane revealed that around three-quarters of businesses in the hospitality industry had breached workplace laws:
Fair Work inspectors visited 243 businesses on Victoria Street in Melbourne’s Richmond, Glebe Point Road in Sydney’s Glebe and at Fortitude Valley in Brisbane. They interviewed staff and checked employment records, issuing 71 on-the-spot fines and 63 formal cautions, and finding workers were owed $471,904.
Of the businesses found in breach of workplace laws, 38% underpaid their staff, while 28% failed to keep adequate employment records and pay slips. Failure to pay overtime or to give staff adequate meal breaks were other common issues…
The Fair Work ombudsman, Natalie James, said she was disappointed by the high level of non-compliance, but not surprised. One in 10 disputes resolved by the ombudsman last financial year involved a restaurant, a cafe or a takeaway food outlet, and nearly one-third of the most serious cases the ombudsman takes to court involves the sector.
The issue was thrust further into the public spotlight a year ago when the high profile restaurant, Rockpool, was found to have significantly expolited key migrant staff:
…”It’s mental torture,” said one migrant chef on a temporary work visa, who asked not to be named, fearing deportation from Australia if they lost their job.
Some chefs working for the group are earning as little as half of what they should after being paid for 38 hours per week while actually working up to 15 or 20 hours of unpaid overtime.
…Many of the workers at Rockpool Dining Group are migrants, and some have been told that if they want their permanent residency application processed, they must use the company’s lawyers.
One chef at the group said their visa status made migrants vulnerable to excessive work, significant underpayment and exploitation.
They accuse their employer of dragging out their applications for permanent residency and of holding their temporary status in Australia over them.
With this sordid background in mind, it is disheartening to read that leading restauranteurs have demanded the government cut ‘red tape’ to allow them to access more migrant cooks. From The AFR:
Chef and restaurateur Luke Mangan said a shortage of chefs and waitstaff in the hospitality industry made businesses such as his reliant on foreign workers.
This included South Korean chef Carlos Byeon, who is among a quarter of the staff at the flagship Glass Brasserie on a temporary work visa.
But Mr Mangan said delays in the processing of temporary work visas under the present system were at odds with the rapid pace of his work. “When we need staff, we need them now – and not after three to six months,” he said.
The restaurateur is among several industry leaders who have welcomed the government’s pledge to cut bureaucratic red tape, and advanced their proposal for where it should start…
Nino Zoccali, who owns the Restaurant Pendolino and La Rosa in Sydney, said he had been struggling to fill vacancies for restaurant managers and cooks.
Cooks were already the fifth highest occupation granted a visa under the skilled stream in 2017-18, which came despite the Department of Jobs and Small Business’ own skilled shortage list showing that cooks have not been in shortage for four years.
Neither Cooks/Chefs or restaurant managers are particularly critical to the functioning of the economy. It’s not like Australia has a shortage of cafes and restaurants (quite the opposite in fact). And these positions could easily be filled by Australian permanent residents with a little bit of training.
Moreover, if these restaurants are struggling to find staff, there is an obvious solution: offer higher wages as well as training.
Youth labour underutilisation in Australia is already at obscene levels and there is a large untapped pool of spare labour capacity just waiting to be tapped:
Given restauranteurs easier access to cheap migrant workers is a retrograde step that will only worsen the systemic exploitation already prevalent across Australia’s hospitality sector and broader labour market.
