SBS TV has revealed the gray areas of Thai massage in Australia, where the industry is full of Asian female immigrants, international students, and some who offer sex services for high returns. However, their work rights often need to be protected, and the Office of the Fairwork Ombudsman recently locked in the case of women massage workers being exploited by their bosses.
A joint survey by SBS Radio Thai and SBS's THE FEED has revealed many grey areas of Thai massage in Australia.
According to the report, a female student, Joy, said that her weekly salary at a massage shop could reach 1,500,700 Australian dollars, partly half the standard massage fee assigned to her by the owner of the massage establishment. The other part comes from providing additional services to customers. The so-called "extra services" include nudity massage, masturbation, oral sex or sexual intercourse, at a cost ranging from 20 to 150 Australian dollars a time.
The report drew strong attention from Australian society. Recently, the Fairwork Ombudsman has raised new questions about the payment of wages in the field of Thai massage.
Two Japanese female employees at a massage shop in Brisbane sought help from the Office of the Fair work Ombudsman after they worked in Brisbane City Thai Massage and Day Spa and Heavenly Asian Massage in 2016 with a 417 working vacation visa. Massage shop owners do not pay for the minimum hourly wage, less than A $12842.
An inspector issued a compliance statement to Sean Pinnell,Sajana Paudel, the owner of the two stores, asking Bishnu Laxmi Ganesha Trading, the owner of the two stores, to pay their employees in full.
But Pinnell not only failed to act as required in a timely manner, but also sent an e-mail to the Fairwork Ombudsman saying he would "seek legal advice on these & # 39; absurd charges," and later claimed that he had no money to pay.
Judge Salvatore Vasta questioned the comments made by counsel representing Pinnell, noting that non-compliance with the compliance notice was a serious violation, and subsequently fined the operators, Bishnu Laxmi Ganesha Trading and Sean Pinnell,Sajana Paudel, a total of A $120225.
Natalie James, a fair-job investigator, said once again that underpayment by employers would face serious consequences. "We attach great importance to allegations of exploitation of overseas workers."