Working for $9 hour
Labour is vital to the Australian horticulture industry. Seasonal variation and the transient nature of the work makes the farmworker population difficult to measure. It is estimated that approximately 142,000 people work in the horticulture industry. Fruit grape and nut farms employ around 104,000 workers and vegetable farms employ 38,000 workers.
Wage Theft: Horticulture report
At time of writing migration to Australia is at an all-timelow. Many nations have begun their roll out of vaccines for the COVID-19 virus however the pandemic still poses a serious threat to lives and economies. To limit the spread of the virus in Australia the federal government has continued its restriction on international arrivals and particularly its halt on immigration to Australia.
Wage Theft: the Shadow Market
The exploitation of temporary migrant workers in Australia is a common and known problem that appears to be endemic throughout Australian workplaces. This exploitation persists despite numerous government inquiries,¹ legislative reforms and in 2019, the establishment of The Migrant Workers’ Taskforce whose recommendations are yet to be implemented.
Visa Assist Annual Report 2020
Visa Assist is a partnership between Unions NSW and the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre
(IARC), designed to advocate for and advise union members with immigration matters.
No Worker Left Behind - Survey Results 2020
Unions NSW’s survey is the first large-scale data set regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related govern-ment economic and social restrictions, upon temporary migrants. Temporary migrants have been particularly impact-ed because of the reluctance of the Australian government to extend access to its JobKeeper and JobSeeker schemes to visa holders.
PPE: Safe Workers, Healthy NSW - Call 2GB
Temporary Work Visas – Submission to Senate Inquiry
NSW believes temporary work visas should be built around a framework that provides workers with a timely and accessible mechanism to lodge claims against exploitative employers and are paid on par with local workers.