Ashleigh Mounser, a UOW graduate, was shocked to discover that a takeaway business was offering her $10 per hour, well below the minimum wage. She posted this on Facebook and was met with a flood of replies with complaints.
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Arthur Rorris, secretary of the South Coast Labour Council, the peak union body for the region, says Mounser has uncovered a culture of exploitation in Wollongong.
“One thing is certain,” he says. “Given the scale of this scandal, if it’s happening in Wollongong, it’s happening everywhere.
“What is happening is not an accident, it’s a business model and it is called Wage Theft.
“There is only one way to fix this problem – change the rules which allow it to happen in the first place.”
Ashleigh explains what happened.
This feature has been sponsored by the following unions. For more information, click on the links.
Q: Why did you post this on Facebook?
Originally, I was just going to write to Fair Work, but I thought that it would be more effective to make an itemised list of every underpaying business in Wollongong. This would make more of an impact and be more likely to elicit a response.
Q: What sort of replies did you get?
I received over a hundred replies, some reporting up to five businesses each. Many were reporting not only wage theft, but extended unpaid trials, sexism, discrimination, unfair dismissal and sexual harassment.
Many people were still upset about what had happened, even if it had been years, and a lot had already reported the business to Fair Work and never heard anything back.
The same businesses were reported by up to eight different people, dating back several years.
Q: Were you surprised?
I was surprised by the additional issues which were reported, and by how extreme some of the underpayment was, but I’ve known for a long time that underpayment was the norm in hospitality. Most young workers are aware of it, there’s just a sense of helplessness about it.
Q: What can be done to prevent this?
The Ombudsman is obviously underfunded, but if they can’t do the job then someone needs to.
Recouping lost wages isn’t a punishment; employers are just paying back wages they should have been paying in the first place.
For consumers, I would say don’t be afraid to ask servers how much they are getting paid and don’t support the businesses.
More importantly, let the employers know that this is why you’re not supporting them. Lack of transparency is one of the big ways wage theft continues to happen.
Q: What are the next steps?
Unions will continue to pursue complaints on a case by case basis, and without enforced punishments, I’m sure many employers will continue to rip employees off without consequences.
I no longer advise them to report to Fair Work. After reporting over 60 businesses and seeing very little response from the Ombudsman, I think it’s better to contact the South Coast Labour Council and join a union.
ACTU secretary, Sally McManus said, “What Ashleigh did is stand up for her rights and did not sit back down until she got her outcome.
“We need systemic change to make sure that wage theft doesn’t continue to take money out of working people’s pockets.
“Working people know that the rules are broken and have given corporations too much power, and you can do something about it. Join our campaign, stand with Ashleigh and millions of other Australians to change the rules.”