Exploitation of workers can be defined as the action of treating an employee in an unfairly and unethical way in order to obtain additional benefit from them for which they are not being appointed and paid. Unsatisfactory compensation, excessive workload due to unscheduled work and workplace discrimination all falls under the term Workers exploitation. Exploitation also implies that it is not voluntary but is preferably achieved through pressure, threat and act of violence by the workers. In Australia, exploitation of foreign workers by wages has got increased in a commendable level in the past decade. Migrant workers are treated like slaves by a good number of organisations in the mentioned nation. Organisations even disagree to practice internationally agreed labour rights when it comes to foreign workers. The major exploitations performed on immigrant workers in Australia includes obtaining insufficient wages, working long hours, the absence of standard safety in the workplace, insecure employment, sexual harassment as well a discrimination and lack of verbal freedom. These unethical acts are imposing a negative impact on the workforce of Australian organisation and as a result, employee attrition rate and conflict within the organisations have increased to a commendable amount of time. The research question for this research includes “why are foreign workers being exploited in the minimum wages in Australia?” Considering the fact that qualitative data analysis will b performed in order to conduct the research, the scope of the research includes in-depth analysis of the research topic with the help of relevant literature as well as theories. However, one of the major constraints of the research is the lack of primary data which could have enhanced the authenticity and validation of the research to a great extent. Exploitation of foreign workers is a burning issue in Australia and this act is imposing a huge negative impact on both the reputation as well as the revenue of the organization. Hence this research will help the management of the organization which acts are causing employee exploitation and how these acts are adversely affecting the company in the long run.
part 1
In this portion, a brief description of the theory, as well as literature use in order to answer the research question, has been discussed. According to the exploitation theory of sociology, exploitation takes place when one social group posses the ability to take for itself what is produced by another group. The mentioned socialist theory is from Marxist perspective and the concept is central to the idea of social operation. According to this theory, profit of the industrialists and the employers results from the exploitation of the wage earners. The socialist theory also known as the exploitation theory rests on the labour theory of value that claims that value is intrinsic in a product with respect to the amount of labor that has been spent on manufacturing the product (Fuchs 2012). Thus the worth of a product is created by the labours who have manufactured the same and reflects its finished price. The profit obtained from selling the product should ideally be divided among the workers and the employer. This theory includes both economic as well as non-economic forms like sexual exploitation of women. The mentioned theory is highly relatable to the research topic since it states that the wages received by the worker do not demonstrate the employers take the full value of the work since some of the economic value. The socialist theory states that taking away a majority of the value created by the workers by the employers are known as capitalist exploitation (Tomba 2014). The theory of Eugen Von Bohm-Bawerk has highly argued this theory. He argues that instead of exploiting workers, capitalists actually help the same to earn by providing them with job and salary in advance of the revenue from the goods produced by them.
According to Larrain (2013), “Labour cannot increase its share at the expense of capital.” The capitalist theory argues that the theory of exploitation has ignored the dimension of time in the process of production. As per the theory of Bohm-Bawerk, since the workers do not produce the whole value of production, the labour should only be paid at the present value of any foreseeable output. According to (Watson 2013), The Australian labour-hire companies are highly exploiting vulnerable workers in order to reduce their investment cost and thus enhance their revenue. All over Australia, labour-hire organizations are hiring mainly casual as well as temporary workers on behalf of big companies. Majority of the casual and temporary workers are migrants and foreigners. According to the Fair Work Commission, a casual worker is defined as an employee who is not liable for providing service to the company at regular working hours. The company, on the other hand, posses the authority to terminate a casual worker without any prior notice. However, in Australia, casual workers are made to work more than their stipulate work period. Excessive work pressure not only destroys their work-life balance but also results in stress, anxiety and other physical and physiological diseases.
In this paragraph, the critical evolution of the theories and literature discussed in the previous section will be performed. According to researchers, the theory of sociology points out the discrimination faced by the workers from time immemorial. The exploitation theory, also known as the theory of labours assets that the institution of private property allows the fewer number of privileged to reap off the benefit of the labours without contributing anything on the basis of effort, labour or ability. Here the term “ privileged few” has been referred to the industrialists, capitalists an landowners (Harrod and O’Brien 2012). One of the major strengths of this theory includes its intention to create a system of equality. The theory emphasises on human rights along with equal gender role, healthcare as well as access to education. The followers of the theory of labours believe that the industrialist should keep a minimum amount of the profit and labours should be paid the majority portion of the same since they are responsible for the production of the product or services. Underpayment of labours is considered to be one of the most crucial topics that the socialist theory and the exploitation theory deals with. Several examples of employee exploitation an underpayment can be pointed out when it comes to Australia (Robinson 2012). Especially when it comes to foreign workers, the degree of exploitation on the basis of the underpayment is even more. One of the major examples of exploitation of the foreign worker is the 7 eleven wage scandal. Seven Eleven is a recognized Australian company which has obtained several negative publicity.
In Australia, the seven eleven workers are given profoundly low amount of remuneration and are threatened by the supervisors to be deported or terminated if being asked to enhance the wage. The hourly wage that was paid to the 7 eleven workers is as less as 24.50 dollars (Anderson and Shutes 2014). When it comes to the migrant labour, the exploitation is even more. According to researchers, the chief reason behind this is the dependence of the migrant labour on visas. In 2015 August, The ABC’s Four Corners, as well as the Fairfax Media, found out about the employment rules of certain 7 eleven stores located at Australia. They found out that a good number of the employees working at 7 eleven were being paid from 10 Australian dollars to 14 Australian dollars per hours without adding tax whereas as per the Australian regulation, an employee should be paid a minimum wage of 24.69 dollars per hours (Petri 2012). The worst part of the scandal is that the management maintained a record that recorded half of the total number of hours worked by the employees. Employees were paid on the basis of these records.
Thus, in order to stay safe legally, the company not only used to pay the full amount to the employees initially and then used to take half of the amount back from them. Along with that, employees were often not paid for things they are legally entitled to. They are forced to work overtime without incentives, during weekends and holidays. All these are an example of labour exploitation since these acts of the management of 7 eleven had not only taken a toll on the health of the employees by enhancing their stress level but has also deprived them of their right. These unjust acts of the company had resulted in high employee attrition. While native workers were able to leave the company, migrant workers found it difficult for them to move out of the company due to various reasons (FOLEY 2016). According to researchers, the socialist theory has the potentiality to solve the issue of labour under-payment. However, one of the major issues of the mentioned problem includes that it does not recognize the contribution of the investors. Another issue is that inputs are heterogeneous. They have to be valued in dollar terms, and that requires imputation, a’la Friedrich Wieser, and that in turn needs information from the insist side. Price determines the cost of manufacture at least as much as the cost of production determines the price.
When it comes to the capitalist theory, the major strength of this theory is that the theory supports private property rights, focuses more on the individual and less government control. However, the major disadvantages of the mentioned system include its nature of competitiveness. Moreover, the mentioned theory does not show any empathy towards the labours and are solely focused on profit instead of social welfare (Faccarello 2015). Another mention-worthy example that demonstrates the exploitation of foreign labour at Australia includes the recent wage scandal of Woolworths. Woolworths is one of the most popular retail organizations in Australia. Recently the company has gained high negative publicity since the management was paying low remuneration to the contract cleaners. According to researchers, poor governance by Woolworths contributed to the serious exploitation of the contract cleaner. Majority of the contract cleaner appointed by the company are foreigners or migrant at Australia. The management of the company took benefit of their job vulnerability and paid them below the legal minimum wage. The amount of money provided to the contract cleaner by the management of the company ranged from 7 Australian dollars to Australian dollars whereas the company is liable to pay at least 24.69 Australian dollars on the regular basis (Bahn, Barratt-Pugh and Yap 2012). Like 7-eleven, the mentioned organization also kept false record where cash payments and a lack of co-operation from workers impeded the probe so the amount underpaid was estimated to be much greater. According to researchers, the lack of management can be considered as the chief reason behind this unethical act of management. Being on of the most recognized organization in Australia the Woolworths is very much aware of its reputation. However, due to several numbers of layers in the management discrepancies and scandal takes place. (Hawthorne 2016) stated that alarming level of exploitation can take lack when the supply gain involving venerable employees are not adequately monitored. Deficiency in the company’s governance arrangements with regard to its procurement along with oversight of the cleaning contracts has resulted in serious exploitation taking place at multiple levels of its cleaning an supply chain.
From the above discussion, it can be clearly understood that one of the chief reason behind the excessive exploitation of migrant workers in Australia includes the fear o getting deported or visa being cancelled. According to (May, Peetz and Strachan 2013), migrant workers on seasonal contracts in Australia are afraid to report the exploitation they experience. Not only that being from another totally different country with different rules and regulation altogether, they know too little about their rights I the foreign land. In the following paragraph, the chief reason behind the operation faced by the migrant workers in Australia is discussed.
The first reason behind tolerating the exploitation faced by the foreign workers includes fear of being deported. According to (Piracha, Tani and Vadean 2012), the abuses suffered by the migrant workers are still not reflected in the legislation and this is a major concern. The foreign workers are afraid to report abuses due to their fear of being deported as well as back-listed from their own country. Along with this difference in language and culture is also considered to be the barrier for the accessibility of information. (Tan and Lester 2012) stated that there no specific policy or procedure of educating the migrant workers about their rights. Majority of times, migrant workers are made to believe that that they eligible for no special rights since they are outsiders. The only choice they have is to perform the task, which they have been told. According to a survey of more than 63 per cent of the migrant workers, possess limited knowledge of the English language since it is a foreign language to them. Moreover, since n information about the method o approaching the legal institution about the regular abuse and exploitation are shared with them, the workers are left with no choices but to either leave the job or keep silence. However (Bonin and Putterman 2013) stated that few organizations like Wesfarmers posses the policy where employees from different cultural background are eligible for the equality act where any discrimination based on the race of an employee is a crime and action is supposed to be taken in order to eradicate the crime. However, the information about rights and obligations that the migrant workers receive, prior to their departure, is often incomplete.
While the above stated reason behind the exploitation of foreign workers is stated from the perspective of the workers, inefficient management can be pointed out to be another reason behind the exploitation of the employees. In organizations like 7 Eleven and Woolworths, the organization posses two or three layers of managerial posts. This makes the whole system of managing highly complex and enhances the chances of corruption within the managers. This, in turn, results in the exploitation of workers in order to lower the investment cost of the management and enhance the profit of the organization (Robertson 2014). Besides that, lack of government intervention and loopholes in the regulations can be considered as another major reason behind the enhancing rate of employee exploitation. According to (Piracha, Tani and Vadean 2012), there prevail several loopholes in the invigilation conducted by the government. For instance, several disreputable labour hiring contractors of Australia, those who supply workers to the farm sector are found to be using the technology in order to avoid detection of underpayment as well as unlawful practices. In several instances, they are found to post an advertisement on the internet and avoid operating through registered business as well as corporate entity. However, in several developed nations these breaches are detected efficiently by the management, for instance in UK, effective monitoring and enforcement of the licensing scheme and the imposition of substantial civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance.
Considering the fact that Australia is an ageing population, it is highly crucial for the organization as well as the government to eradicate the above-discussed issue in order to maintain and enhance the productivity (Long 2013). The first step that needs to be taken be taken is to create awareness of the rights possessed by the workers. In order to enhance the working conditions as well as inform the migrant workers about their rights, AHRC has initiated a new project. The aim of the project is to support the capacity building of National Human Rights Institutions from the specific where the majority of the migrants comes from.
Apart from enhancing the awareness of the migrant workers it is also important to amend the actions taken by the government of Australia to ensure that all the migrant workers are safe from exploitation. For this, amendment or removal of s235 of the migration act needs to be done (Berg 2015).
Section 235 of the Migration Act must change in order to confirm that the undocumented workers have the same minimum employment rights as a common citizen of the nation. In this current situation the interaction between this offence and protections under the Fair Work Act are steel distorted and unclear (Long 2013). This type of offences can deprive the eligible workers of enforceable labour rights by leaving a large sector of the workforce completely vulnerable to exploitation. Unfortunately, this loophole can effectively cover-up the unscrupulous employers (Chan 2016). Amendment or removal of this act would put beyond doubt that the Fair Work Act applies to all the migrant workers regardless of their visa/migration status. Consequently, it would enable the operation to be at the forefront of the national response.
Endorsement and engagement of independent research that measures the impact of the modern slavery disguised under the act of unfair employment practice. In the past five years some significant independent research has been done on this topic, however the number is not adequate to assess the whole picture of the social dilemma in employment practice. More research will help to uncover many truths and can ensure the enforcement of justice across the nation.
Conclusion
As per the above discussion, it has been clear that, in Australia, exploitation of foreign workers on the basis of wages has got increased in a commendable level in the past decade. Unsatisfactory compensation, excessive workload due to unscheduled work and workplace discrimination all falls under the term Workers exploitation. All over Australia, labour-hire organizations are hiring mainly casual as well as temporary workers who are migrants and foreigners with underpayment and even with low compensatory advantages. These unethical acts are imposing a negative impact on the workforce of Australian organisations resulting high employee attrition rate and increased internal conflict within the organisations. The socialist theory states that taking away a majority of the value created by the workers by the employers are known as capitalist exploitation. From the above analysis, it can be concluded that amendment or removal of s235 of the migration act needs to be done by the government of Australia to ensure that all the migrant workers are safe from exploitation.
References
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