In these last few weeks Fair work Australia has done some auditing on the cleaning companies that hire International students. One of the companies is Assetlink.
.jpg)
‘It is not acceptable for organisations to outsource work to the lowest-cost contractor and turn a blind eye to any subsequent unfair treatment of low-paid workers. Such behaviour can be detrimental to an organisation’s reputation and may also be considered unlawful.’ (FWO, 2/7/13) said the Ombudsman.
Assetlink denied these allegations
The students who worked at Melbourne's Law court building cleaning it, worked for Assetlink. Earlier on in July a workers union called United Voice raised concerns about the company. In this instance students had to have had their own ABN. They also missed out on ther entitlements such as sick leave etc. They were paid $6.35 LESS THAN THE LEGAL MINIMUM WAGE.
United Voice have released a report. The findings of this report are:
But what can universities do to warn students about these sham contracting agreements? Meld Magazine has done a good job in warning these students about this sort of illegal work.
In the coming year we would love to see that RMIT and other universities have more information sessions on work rights for International students with some of the unions coming to the unis to talk about their services. RMIT Student Union does a great job in warning them but we would love to see RMIT doing the same thing
‘It is not acceptable for organisations to outsource work to the lowest-cost contractor and turn a blind eye to any subsequent unfair treatment of low-paid workers. Such behaviour can be detrimental to an organisation’s reputation and may also be considered unlawful.’ (FWO, 2/7/13) said the Ombudsman.
Assetlink denied these allegations
 |
| Image courtesy of Indian Herald |
The students who worked at Melbourne's Law court building cleaning it, worked for Assetlink. Earlier on in July a workers union called United Voice raised concerns about the company. In this instance students had to have had their own ABN. They also missed out on ther entitlements such as sick leave etc. They were paid $6.35 LESS THAN THE LEGAL MINIMUM WAGE.
United Voice have released a report. The findings of this report are:
- These students were bullied. Some of them were racially abused. The Indian students who were employed in these subcontracting companies were often mistreated. About 50% of cleaners are from India, Bangladesh and Columbia.
- There was a lot of intimidation by the bosses
- A lot of International students are being ripped off by $15000 annually. This hurts our $15 billion dollar education export industry which supports Australian Jobs.
- International students make up a big chunk of Australian economy.
- A lot of the reputable office cleaning companies sub contract to other companies in order to maintain costs
- Three out of four International students don't know about their work rights. A lot of these students were employed under "Sham Contracting" agreements which is illegal
- When United Voice did their report a lot of them were sworn to secrecy and asked not to speak out by the employer to the Union. The employer would often hide the students and the problems when United Voice came along.
- In another post we talk about Australia being the most expensive place to study.
But what can universities do to warn students about these sham contracting agreements? Meld Magazine has done a good job in warning these students about this sort of illegal work.
In the coming year we would love to see that RMIT and other universities have more information sessions on work rights for International students with some of the unions coming to the unis to talk about their services. RMIT Student Union does a great job in warning them but we would love to see RMIT doing the same thing
No comments:
Post a Comment