A coalition of concerned community legal centres and civil society organisations have written an open letter calling on governments to make pre-election commitments to end the exploitation of migrant workers.
The letter builds on the findings of a March 2022 senate committee report, which highlighted the “deliberate and systemic” exploitation of migrant workers in Australian workplaces, and made significant recommendations for reform.
Signatories to the open letter are employment law specialists and organisations that support migrant workers and see first-hand the systemic barriers that enable the exploitation of temporary visa holders and the culture of silence fuelled by visa concerns.
The letter outlines factors that enable the exploitation of temporary visa holders to flourish, drawing on the experience of services who see first-hand the culture of silence fueled by visa concerns, the barriers for migrant workers attempting recovery of entitlements through the courts, and the lack of safeguards for migrants through the Fair Entitlement Guarantee, which are available to all other Australian employees.
The coalition of organisations is seeking three core pre-election commitments from governments to address wage theft and end the exploitation of migrant workers by:
- allowing migrant workers to act against exploitative employers by strengthening visa protections
- providing fast-tracked pathways for exploited workers to recover unpaid wages through the courts
- offering equal protections to all workers under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee
Download the open letter below