Chinatown restaurant staff got $5/hour, slept in kitchen, union claims
July 17, 2019
Sydney Morning Herald


Staff at a restaurant in Chinatown were paid as little as $5 an hour, slept on milk crates in the kitchen and were sacked via social media, according to a complaint to the workplace watchdog.

A union has alleged to the Fair Work Ombudsman that Hochi Mama workers were underpaid by thousands of dollars and discovered they had been fired after being deleted from a staff online chat group.   


Hospitality workers' union says staff at Hochi Mama were maltreated.

Hospitality workers protested at the city restaurant and its sister Melbourne venue Straight Outta Saigon on Tuesday night.

Union Hospo Voice says pay slips show wages of just $21 an hour and no penalty rates, with calculations suggesting one staff member was underpaid almost $10,000 in just a few months.


It also claims migrant kitchen staff were paid a $70 flat rate for working 12-14 hour shifts, or as little as $5 an hour.   

Former Hochi Mama bartender Alex Pugh said he was underpaid almost $4000 for four months' work.

He says he and other staff found out they'd been sacked when they were deleted from the staff's online group chat on WhatsApp.   

"It was so disrespectful," Mr Pugh said.

"Whenever it happened, everyone in the venue could see someone had been fired. It left them all feeling fearful, and wondering who was next?"

But he said the kitchen staff, made up of migrants and international students, were the worst affected and paid flat rates of $70 or $100, working double shifts over 13 or 14 hours.

"I saw these workers sleeping on milk crates out the back of the restaurant," Mr Pugh said.

"It's not OK for anyone to be treated like this, particularly in a wealthy country like Australia."

The venues have been contacted for comment.

Ben Redford, from the union, said hospitality workers are fed up with wage theft and poor treatment.

"What Hospo Voice found at Hochi Mama and Straight Outta Saigon lifts the lid on some of the most shameful practices in hospitality," he said.

"We demand the watchdog condemn this callous method of sacking workers and thoroughly investigate wage theft and exploitation of migrant workers at these venues."

Yep those are the crap 1 million jobs scumo is going to create. Scumo and co believe in quantity rather than quality when it comes to job creation. Sooner or later most of us will be working for a bowl of rice a day