To protect the interests of international students, Australia's Fair work Complaints Board (Fair Work Ombudsman) recently announced a new campaign and strategy to combat the exploitation of foreign students in the workplace by employers.
The Fair Work has reached an agreement with the Immigration Service that this will not happen again in the future.
"the number of international students reporting to FWO is disappointingly low compared to those holding other visa types, despite the fact that international students represent a significant proportion of overseas visitors with the right to work," said FWO inspector Natalie James.
"We know that international students are reluctant to speak out when they encounter problems, which also makes them more vulnerable to exploitation."
"in particular, they will feel that seeking the help of the authorities may undermine their future career prospects and even lead to the cancellation of their visas."
The most important of these announced initiatives is the agreement between the FWO and the Immigration Service of the Visa Agency-
If a student works in violation of visa rules and workplace exploitation occurs, the student will no longer be subject to automatic visa cancellation.
The Fair Work has reached an agreement with the Immigration Service that this will not happen again in the future.
More common methods of exploitation include employers forcing a student to work more than 40 hours a visa within two weeks. Employers then threatened students to report them to immigration if they did not accept low hourly pay and long working hours. It also prevents many students from reporting violations by their employers.
Before the event began, a FWO survey found that many international students were not aware of their work rights. Because some of them said they had been intimidated by employers that they would be repatriated if they filed a complaint or blacklisted if they were looking for another job in the future.
In addition, nearly 60% of Australian international students in the survey believe reporting problems in the workplace does not solve the problem, or even aggravate the problem.
The Fair Work has reached an agreement with the Immigration Service that this will not happen again in the future.
Arjun Mathilakath Madathil, a publicist at (CISA), said CISA welcomed the event and supported the agreement between FWO and the Immigration Service.
"on the same issues as the exploitation of international students by landlords, we have been in close contact with FWO and USCIS. These students do not know their rights and are vulnerable to exploitation, especially those who have just arrived in Australia. "
In addition, he said the lack of cultural awareness in Australia and some misinformation among students could exacerbate the problem.
The Fair Work has reached an agreement with the Immigration Service that this will not happen again in the future.
"most of the students come from different cultural backgrounds and different countries, and the situation is completely different from that of Australia. When they come here, they don't know the culture, they don't know how to maintain legal rights, they don't even know what they're doing is legal. "
"when other students talk about similar experiences, they may think, 'well, this (exploitative agreement) is the best we can get. It's always been so, so we can take it.'"
The Fair Work has reached an agreement with the Immigration Service that this will not happen again in the future.
But many employers just want to use the "lack of consciousness" of foreign students to continue to exploit them. One employer once even told a student that the law allowed them to work 14 hours a day. And take the minimum hourly wage below the standard wage.
"it's like a sweatshop, and we don't want this to happen in a developed country like Australia that has a clear right to work," he said.