International students and backpackers in Australia are owed more than $1 billion in unpaid wages, but fewer than one in 10 workers take action to recover the money they are owed, a new landmark study has found.
The study, to be released today, of 4322 migrant workers in Australia from 107 countries, reveals most knew they had been underpaid but only 9 per cent tried to recover the wages.
Among those who tried to recover unpaid wages, two-thirds recovered nothing at all. Only 16 per cent received the full amount they were owed.
Only 3 per cent of underpaid workers went to the Fair Work Ombudsman and of those, more than half (58 per cent) recovered nothing, the report, Wage Theft in Silence, says.
Reasons that stopped international students, working holidaymakers and other temporary migrant workers from trying to recover their unpaid wages included a lack of knowledge about what to do, a fear of immigration consequences and pessimism about the outcome.
University of NSW senior law lecturer Bassina Farbenblum, who co-wrote the study, said it confirmed Australia had a “large, silent underclass of underpaid migrant workers”.
“The scale of unclaimed wages is likely well over a billion dollars,” she said.
University of Technology Sydney senior law lecturer Laurie Berg said for most migrant workers, it was neither possible nor rational to try to claim their unpaid wages through existing channels.
“The system is broken,” she said. “It is rational for most migrant workers to stay silent. The effort and risks of taking action aren’t worth it, given the slim chance they’ll get their wages back.”
The report recommended regulatory and procedural changes, including reforming the Fair Work Ombudsman’s processes, by establishing a dedicated team to address migrant workers’ inquiries, targeting information to international students and other workers on accessing remedies for unpaid wages.
A previous report by the authors revealed most international students and backpackers were underpaid, with one in three earning about half the minimum wage.
Temporary migrants comprise up to 11 per cent of the Australian labour market.
There were more than 700,000 temporary migrants with work rights (excluding New Zealanders) in Australia as at June 30. Almost 490,000 of those were international students, about 135,000 were working holidaymakers and about 83,500 were 457 visa holders.
The minimum wage at the time of the survey was $17.70 an hour. It is now $18.93 an hour.
For casual workers, at the time of the survey, it was $22.13 an hour, and for those in fast food it was $24.30.
The Australian spoke to one Pakistani student, who worked at a service station while studying accounting. He said he was required by his employer to work 18-hour shifts, from 6am until midnight, and was paid less than $10 an hour.
He did not complain about the poor pay and long shifts, he said, because he was scared his employer would tell immigration authorities he had worked more than the 20 hours a week permitted under his visa conditions and his employer had also kept his passport.
SOURCE: The Australian
