Wage Theft: Lighting up the Black Market
In some sections of the workforce underpayment of wages has become routine. Employers are unashamedly advertising below Award rates for vacant positions.
This seedy underbelly of exploitation and wage theft has been exposed through high profile examples of migrant worker exploitation. Workers have been threatened against making complaints, with employers taking advantage of workers who have poor English, are on temporary work visas and are young.
Wage Theft Report
Unions NSW undertook an audit of job advertisements on Chinese, Korean and Spanish language websites. The audit found 78% of businesses advertised rates of pay below the minimum Award wage.