A third of students victims of pay rorts

HIGH school workers are being exploited by hospitality employers, earning as little as $10 an hour, unions claim.

Geelong Trades Hall secretary Colin Vernon said a recent meeting with Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) students revealed a third of students were being paid cash-in-hand wages of less than $10 an hour.

“The trouble with workers being paid cash in hand is that they aren’t covered if something happens to them when they are at work,” Mr Vernon said.

“For us it is about educating you people — there needs to be a copper on the beat who can go in and inspect workplaces.”

The claim comes as a landmark University of NSW and University of Technology Sydney study shows more than one in three international students and backpackers are being paid about half the legal minimum wage.

National Union of Workers representative Cameron Stops said the abuse of holiday workers was widespread and very common. He said international workers were particularly vulnerable as they relied on employment for their visas.

“They can sometimes feel trapped and if they are being exploited it is a difficult situation for them to get out of because of they way the visa systems works with the employer needing to sign off on farm work,” Mr Stops said.

“A lot of the issues have to do with a lack of regulations which make it fairly easy, particularly for people who are out of sight in a regional area, to get around this stuff without any enforcement.”

The study found in 91 cases, respondents had their passports confiscated by employers; 173 respondents were required to pay upfront “deposits” of up to $1000 to secure a job in Australia; and 112 respondents had been asked to pay money back to their employer in cash after receiving their wages.

The study also found 44 per cent of overseas workers are paid in cash, including two in three waiters, kitchen-hands and food servers.