Tag Archives: entitlements

Employer Calls to Simplify the Award System are a Trojan Horse

February 23, 2020UncategorizedAustralian workers, coles, companies, Domino’s Pizza, entitlements, Fair Work Ombudsman, government, industrial relations, labour, Martijn Boersma, reform, trade unions, Unions, wage theft, woolworths, workmartijn

This week an already impressive list of wage theft offenders has gotten a bit longer.

On Monday, the likes of Caltex, 7-Eleven, Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza and Bunnings (to name a few), were joined by Coles, which underpaid its staff $20 million over six years.

On Wednesday, Target admitted to underpaying workers about $9 million.

On Thursday, Super Retail Group – whose brands include Rebel and Super Cheap Auto, said that it had short-changed workers by $8 million more than it had originally estimated, bringing the total to $61.2 million.

On Friday, cleaning and catering company Spotless admitted to underpaying workers $4 million.

The total wage theft uncovered this week: $94.2 million.

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Interview on 2SER The Daily: The Rise of Wage Theft Scandals, Will They Ever End?

February 27, 2020Uncategorized2SER, Australian workers, companies, entitlements, interview, Martijn Boersma, wage theftmartijn

Last week has seen the list of wage theft offenders get longer. Overall, the total wage theft revealed last week summed up to 94.2 million dollars. According to PwC, Australian workers are underpaid 1.35 billion dollars each year – that means that 1 out of 7 workers aren’t getting their wages, as well as superannuation, overtime, and entitlements like properly paid sick leave. Despite the statistics and companies being called out for wage theft, we’ve seen this issue continue. Which begs the question – why? To dive deep into this issue, I spoke to The Daily on 2SER.

How to Stop Businesses Stealing from their Employees

September 8, 2017UncategorizedAustralia, Australian workers, certification, Domino’s Pizza, entitlements, exploitation, Fair Work Ombudsman, independent contractors, labour, labour standards, national award wage, Senate inquiry, stakeholders, Supply Chain, supply chains, trade unions, Unions, vulnerable workers, wage theft, working conditionsmartijn

A Senate inquiry has revealed that wage theft and underpayment are so prevalent in some industries that they have become the norm. Around 79% of hospitality employers in Victoria, for instance, did not comply with the national award wage system between 2013 and 2016.

Regulators and unions don’t have the resources to combat this issue, and so we need another method to tackle wage exploitation. One way is to introduce a multi-stakeholder certification scheme, using market forces to reward companies that have committed to fair working conditions and punish those that don’t.

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Tag Archives: entitlements

Employer Calls to Simplify the Award System are a Trojan Horse

Interview on 2SER The Daily: The Rise of Wage Theft Scandals, Will They Ever End?

How to Stop Businesses Stealing from their Employees