Patel’s story – like many other young migrants who come to Australia seeking educational opportunities – has been one of resilience and hardship. To pay for her education she worked seven jobs to support herself. Unfortunately, many of those jobs shortchanged her pay and left her vulnerable to abuse. Patel’s experience is part of a growing alarming trend for young workers across Australia. Under this veneer, wage theft and exploitation remain rampant and a new study finds that one in three young people under 30 have experienced it.
Patel realized that in one of her jobs, she was making $13 an hour. She was paid in cash, there were no superannuation or penalty rates on weekends. Her first employment working in a jewellery store, she was being paid less than half the legal minimum wage. “Getting taken advantage of doesn’t build resilience. Accountability starts with knowing your rights,” she continued with resilience. It’s just as important to actively demand those rights, and do so with your co-workers.
Young Workers Centre spearheaded a participatory survey that reached more than 2,800 workers under 30 years old. The results showed an alarming state of affairs. About 34 percent of respondents said they were not paid for trial shifts, and many had their legally required breaks withheld. Additionally, an unfathomable 60 percent of young workers were required to pay for work-related uniforms, equipment, and training. These numbers highlight the pervasive reality of workplace discrimination on the lives of young workers across industries.
As the key researcher on a study into workplace exploitation, Professor John Howe has seen examples of this kind of exploitation, primarily affecting temporary migrant workers. As he added, “If you’re here on a visa, there’s a fear that if you make a complaint you’re going to lose that visa…and that concern is very real even if it’s unjustified…As someone who came from a non-English speaking background, he talked about difficulties in understanding his rights. Moreover, they might not feel confident enough to express their concerns.
Patel stressed that migrants, like herself, are uniquely positioned to be exploited. Bullying, harassment or having your employers scream at you. She told the story of her own experiences with sexual harassment at various places of business. Her experience is not an outlier. As I talk to all of my friends, peers and co-workers, I realize that everyone has felt the exact same way. I hear the story again and again.
Yolanda Robson from the Young Workers Centre reinforced Patel’s worries. She denounced how young people, particularly those who identify as queer or migrants, experience increased vulnerability to exploitation in the workplace. “That is just fact. You are over-represented and more likely to be injured at work, taken advantage of, bullied, and discriminated against on the job,” she said.
The data uncovered by the Young Workers Centre is indicative of a much larger trend that is taking place across Australia’s labor market. When young workers do not feel protected and informed about their rights, exploitation of this magnitude can occur on a massive scale. The centre has individually contacted over 65,000 young people to increase awareness of these issues. Young people’s voices are needed on the ground!
Drew Patel envisions systemic changes that will make employers responsible for wage theft and harassment pay. “I really hope to see some systemic changes where these employers are held accountable and we can actually prevent wage theft and harassment in the first place,” she said. “The onus shouldn’t be on workers to hold these employers accountable.”
