Commonwealth equals wage exploitation for some

In a recent speech to the Queensland Media Club, Prime Minister Julia Gillard declared that Australia has survived the global financial crisis better than any major advanced economy.

“In 2009 the Australian economy grew by 1.3 per cent,” Gillard said. “In contrast, the world’s advanced economies contracted by 3.2 per cent.”

Australia’s public debt is approximately six percent and the unemployment rate has remained steady at 5.1 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

But these positive figures are dulled by estimation from Dr John Sweeney of the Edmund Rice Business Ethics Initiative that not all employees in Australia are enjoying the benefits of a strong economy.

“Over the last ten or twelve years profits have grown steadily at 11 per cent per annum,” Dr Sweeney said. “Wages have increased over three per cent annum.”

This indicates the increasing inequality between Sydney’s rich and poor, and an expanding market of people being employed below award wages and under the minimum wage.

This disturbing figure also undermines the prime minister’s assumption that “work gives economic security and enables life time choices”.

There are numerous examples of recently arrived migrants being employed at $8 or $10 an hour. The minimum wage is over $12.

Dr Sweeney tells the shocking story of an asylum seeker who approached the Edmund Rice centre for help after being kept as a virtual slave of an unscrupulous employer.

“He had been in Australia for five years and had met someone who ran a fruit and vegetable shop. The owner employed this man, but never paid him. He told him that if he left the shop, he would be picked up by the Department of Immigration. The man was so scared that he stayed in the shop, and the owner would lock him inside every night.”

Unfortunately this is not an isolated case of undocumented workers being exploited in the off-the-books economy.

“I think that it’s very widespread,” Dr Sweeney said.

Dr Sweeney said the onus was on the government to stop unethical and exploitive practices by creating initiatives that will grant all workers the “personal dignity” that Julia Gillard claims all employees deserve.

By Milly Caffrey