Fabham Bloom, Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of New South Wales (Photo of the Australian newspaper)
According to the Australian newspaper, a landmark new study found that Australia`s international students and migrant workers, including backpackers, were paid more than 1 billion Australian dollars in total. But less than 1/10 took action to recover their arrears.
A survey of 4322 migrant workers from 107 countries was released yesterday. The (Wage Theft in Silence) report, "wage Theft in Silence", found that most of the respondents knew they were in arrears, but only 9 percent tried to get paid.
Of those seeking pay, 2/3 were not recovered; only 16 per cent were paid in full.
In addition, only 3% of underpaid workers seek help from the Fair work Ombudsman`s office, (Fair Work Ombudsman). More than half (58%) of those seeking help from the Fair work Ombudsman found nothing.
The reasons why foreign students, vacationers and other temporary migrant workers don`t try to get paid include not knowing what to do, worrying about affecting immigration outcomes, and being pessimistic about the results.
Fabben Bloom, a senior lecturer in law at the University of New South Wales at (University of NSW) and co-author of the study, said the study confirmed that Australia has a large number of silent bottom migrant workers in arrears of wages.
"unsolicited wages could be more than A $1 billion." She said.
The report recommends regulatory reforms and procedural adjustments, including: reform of the procedures of the Office of the Ombudsman for Fair work; and the establishment of a special team to deal with the counselling of migrant workers; Provide foreign students and other labourers with information on remedies for arrears of wages.
The authors of the study published another report earlier. Most foreign students and backpackers are in arrears, with 2/3 earning about half the minimum wage, according to the report.
Temporary immigrants account for 11% of Australia`s labour market.
As of June 30, more than seven hundred thousand of temporary immigrants (excluding New Zealanders) had the right to work in Australia, of which nearly four hundred and ninety thousand were international students, about one hundred and thirty five thousand were part-time vacationers and about 83,499 had 457 visas.
At the time of the survey, Australia`s statutory minimum wage was A $17.70 an hour, and is now adjusted to A $18.93 an hour.
During the survey period, the (Casual Worker) (minimum wage) for temporary workers was A $22.13 an hour. Temporary workers in the fast food industry (minimum wage) are A $24.3.
The Australian newspaper interviewed a Pakistani student. When he majored in accounting, he worked at a gas station. He said employers asked themselves to work 18 hours, from 6 a.m. to midnight, with an hourly salary of less than A $10.
He did not complain about underpaid and long shifts, saying he was more than 20 hours a week for fear of employers reporting their weekly work hours to immigration authorities. Plus, his employer kept his passport.
