At a restaurant in Melbourne`s Chinatown, staff earn as little as $5 an hour. They sleep in a milk box in the kitchen and end up being fired by their employers on social media.
The union complained to the fair work inspector that, Hochi Mama employees had been withheld thousands of yuan from salary, and some were fired directly after being removed from chat groups.
The fair work ombudsman is investigating Thai Ho, who has been accused of paying cash salary below industry pay standards for many employees. Thai Ho operates two Vietnamese restaurants, Hochi Mama and Straight Outta Saigon (, which used to be Twenty Pho Seven).
On Tuesday night, catering staff held protest outside the two restaurants.
Trade union Hospo Voice said the salary alone showed that employees` salary was only 21 yuan an hour without overtime pay, and the calculation showed that an employee`s salary was deducted nearly 10, 000 yuan in just a few months.
Two former employees, who declined to be named, estimated that their salaries had been deducted 9508.56 yuan and 3677.52 yuan while working for Thai Ho, and they had filed a complaint with the Fair work Inspector.
Pug (Alex Pugh), a third employee and former bartender, said salary was deducted nearly 3000 yuan during his work from October 2017 to November 2018.
Phug also said that chefs and kitchen handymen, mainly immigrants and foreign students from Thailand and Vietnam, had a salary of 70 yuan to 100 yuan, or as low as 5 yuan an hour, for a 14-hour shift of 12 shifts.
"I saw these workers sleeping on the milk box behind the restaurant," Pug said. "No one can be treated like this, especially in rich countries like Australia."
He and other employees found that they had been fired when they were removed from the employee online chat on WhatsApp.
"this is too much," Mr. Pug said. "it happens a lot, and everyone in the group can see someone fired. It scares them: who`s next to be fired?"
A former manager at Hochi Mama also said that long working hours and low Salary.
Becky Wilkinson said she started at$20 an hour without overtime or public holidays.
"I tried to get employees to get a little more salary on public holidays, but this is still not a legal amount. My salary is paid by the hour until my visa requires me to get a fixed salary, but there is still no overtime pay, only fixed salary," she said.
Redford (Ben Redford), from the union, says catering workers are fed up with salary theft and bad treatment.
"Hospo Voice`s findings in Hochi Mama and Straight Outta Saigon reveal some of the most shameful acts of hospitality," he said.
"We ask regulators to condemn this ruthless dismissal of workers and to thoroughly investigate salary theft and exploitation of migrant workers in these places."
