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BRENDAN O’CONNOR MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE
RELATIONS
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR GORTON
SHAYNE NEUMANN MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND BORDER
PROTECTION
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR BLAIR
LISA CHESTERS MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR WORKPLACE RELATIONS
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR RURAL & REGIONAL
AUSTRALIA
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR BENDIGO
MORRISON GOVERNMENT FAILS VULNERABLE MIGRANT WORKERS
FACING $1 BILLION IN WAGE THEFT
A new report has revealed more than 90 per cent of migrant workers have
suffered appalling and inexcusable wage theft whilst working on a temporary
visa in Australia with the scale of unpaid wages said to be over $1 billion.
The report “Wage Theft in Silence: Why Migrant Workers Do Not Recover Their
Unpaid Wages in Australia” makes clear how the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison
Government continues to fail some of the most vulnerable workers in Australia.
The report - based on the first large-scale national survey of temporary migrant
workers - shows the systemic nature of wage theft occurring in Australia
including:
ï· Only three in every 100 underpaid migrant workers in Australia went to
the Fair Work Ombudsman;
ï· Out of those very few who reported, over half did not recover their unpaid
wages; and
ï· Fewer than one in ten international students and backpackers took
action to recover wages they were owed.
International students or backpackers should be coming to Australia to study or
to experience a cultural exchange rather than creating an underclass of workers
in Australia.
This latest report adds to the growing pile of evidence about how unscrupulous
employers deliberately and knowingly exploit migrant workers because they
know they won’t complain.
Scandal after scandal has made it clear that worker exploitation and systematic
wage theft is widespread and the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government have
failed to stamp it out.
This exploitation must stop.
The out-of-touch Morrison Government has no concern or care when it comes
to proper treatment of workers; they are only focussed on their own jobs.
In the absence of leadership from Morrison’s Muppet Show, Labor will continue
to lead the way to stamp out underpayment and exploitation of vulnerable
workers in Australia.
Only Labor understands that fairness at work helps to drive a more productive,
competitive and prosperous economy.
Rather than the race to the bottom on wages and conditions for all Australian
workers we’ve seen under the Liberals, Labor is committed to protecting wages
and conditions by cracking down on worker exploitation.
MONDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2018
MEDIA CONTACTS:
ERIN SMITH 0458 950 010 (O’CONNOR)
TIMOTHY DUNLOP 0428 043 110 (NEUMANN)
LISA CHESTERS 0425 755 929
Authorised by Noah Carroll, ALP, Canberra.