Slave-like conditions alleged for migrant workers

    AAP
    May 04, 2015 10:30PM
    The Australian
   

Food supplied to Australia's biggest supermarkets and fast food chains is being processed or picked by migrant workers in slave-like conditions, it has been reported.   

An ABC Four Corners program has revealed widespread exploitation of people on working holiday visas.

At a chicken processing factory, migrants have been forced to work 18 hours a day, seven days a week.   

One man was forced to relieve himself on the job because he wasn't allowed to go to the toilet, a Taiwanese backpacker told the program.

The report on Monday also aired allegations of unscrupulous contractors propagating black market labour, hiring migrants on expired or invalid visas.

Some are paying workers half the legal wage, or as little as $3.95 an hour.   

Female workers also spoke of being sexually harassed by supervisors at two separate labour hire companies.

There are also fears of organised prostitution syndicates moving in across the country.

Federal Nationals MP Keith Pitt has called for a task force and undercover teams to stop the exploitation of workers.

"This is slave labour and in Australia that shouldn't happen," he told the program.   

The Australian Greens plan to refer the reports to an existing Senate inquiry into the working visa system.

Deputy leader Adam Bandt called on the government to investigate the allegations, saying it must not allow incidents of exploitation and abuse to continue.

Slave-like conditions alleged for migrant workers


It's happening all over Australia. Our growers get the South Koreans in, everything arranged, they get stuck here, not enough pay to move on, they take most of their earnings for accommodation, the backpacker hostels and growers are in it together, a bad, bad situation that should be thoroughly investigated. The growers in this area will not employ locals because they know they'd come to grief.

Immigration do a raid on one farm every four years or so to make it look like they're stamping down. The government know about this scam but don't want to upset the farming industry.

Yes, I support the slave trade by buying from Aldi, but I have no choice unless I want to pay $2 for an apple from a fancy antsy organic shop.