Tag Archives: vulnerable workers

How an Industry Known for Exploiting Workers is Cleaning Up its Act

March 5, 2021UncategorizedARC Linkage, certification, cleaners, cleaning, Cleaning Accountability Framework, exploitation, Fair Work Ombudsman, industrial relations, labour standards, Martijn Boersma, modern slavery, University of Technology Sydney, UTS, UTS Business School, vulnerable workers, worker exploitationmartijn

The cleaning industry has long had a reputation for exploiting workers, as cut-throat competition delivers contracts with profit margins so thin there’s little room to pay cleaners their legal entitlements.

The Cleaning Accountability Framework, with the help of a group of business, law and IT researchers, is making inroads into what has seemed at times an intractable problem.

Dr Martijn Boersma, who lectures in industrial relations and business ethics at the University of Technology Sydney Business School, has been working with CAF and says non-compliance with labour standards has been a big issue in the cleaning industry.

Continue reading How an Industry Known for Exploiting Workers is Cleaning Up its Act →

New Book Sheds Light on Modern Slavery

October 1, 2019Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, cleaning, companies, consumers, exploitation, Fair Work Ombudsman, global supply chains, government, labour, Martijn Boersma, Supply Chain, vulnerable workers, workmartijn

The Australian cleaning industry has come under scrutiny for being at risk of modern slavery in a new book which draws links between consumers, business and government, and an estimated 40 million people who are modern-day slaves.

Addressing Modern Slavery explains the global conditions that have allowed slavery to thrive to the point “where there are more slaves today than ever before in human history”.

Authors Associate Professor Justine Nolan from UNSW Sydney and Dr Martijn Boersma from UTS describe well-known examples from overseas, such as women in apparel sweatshops and children in brick kilns – but also examples that are closer to home.

The authors include a submission from a former cleaner to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia who noted exploitation in the cleaning industry is very common.

Continue reading New Book Sheds Light on Modern Slavery →

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.

Continue reading How to Stop Businesses Stealing from their Employees →

Martijn's Blog

Critical Observations

Tag Archives: vulnerable workers

How an Industry Known for Exploiting Workers is Cleaning Up its Act

New Book Sheds Light on Modern Slavery

How to Stop Businesses Stealing from their Employees