A new report has found that 78 per cent of more than 1300 workers surveyed in Australia's horticulture industry are being paid below the minimum wage, with some earning as little as $9 a day.
When Kate came to Australia from Taiwan in 2019 before the pandemic she was attracted by advertisements promising an adventure - enjoying a holiday while earning a wage.Put to work on a lemon and mandarin farm, she earned below the minimum wage - collecting $24 a day on piece rate rather than an hourly wage cash-in-hand. "I was dumpster diving for food and had to live in one room with seven other people.
Kate says she was shocked at some of the working conditions she was subjected to working at fruit farms in South Australia and Queensland.The report by Migrant Workers’ Centre and Unions NSW surveyed workers between late September 2020 until late February 2021. "I want politicians to treat and take care of backpackers because we are the people who take the jobs that Australians don't want to do," Kate said.
"We've had so many [parliamentary] inquiries. We have had exposés. We have had reports. And everybody wrings their hands together and says how bad it is. But there are some very clear steps the government could take and they're all outlined in our report.'Do not come, do not come': Why the Biden administration's blunt message to migrants sounds familiar to Australia
"The NFF has long called for the introduction of a national labour hire regulation scheme, to hold labour hire entities to account, which research shows is a link in the ag workforce, where wrong doing occurs," National Farmers' Federation CEO Tony Mahar told SBS News. "It is okay that we have to work for the right to stay another year. I have no problem with that. I just don't want to be told that we are lazy and that they can replace us whenever we want; to be told they can pay us whatever they want."
"Know your rights. When the injury happened to my boyfriend, we did not know if he had any rights to claim it as a workplace accident. Or separately, even if we could claim penalty rates for working weekends. It is good to know your working rights."
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