Breaking the Silence: A Proposal for Whistleblower Protections to Enable Migrant Workers to Address Exploitation

Breaking the Silence: A Proposal for Whistleblower Protections to Enable Migrant Workers to Address Exploitation

Led by the Migrant Justice Institute and Human Rights Law Centre, the Breaking the Silence proposal urges the Federal government to establish whistleblower protections that would enable migrant workers to report exploitation without risking their visa. The proposal is endorsed by a national coalition of over 40 legal service providers, unions, ethnic community peak bodies, churches, and national organisations.

Migrant workers generally endure exploitation in silence for fear of jeopardising their visa or ability to stay in Australia. The proposed reforms in Breaking the Silence include:

• A protection against visa cancellation for exploited migrant workers who take action against their employer and have breached their work conditions;

• A short-term visa to allow exploited migrant workers to remain in Australia and pursue a claim against their employers, with visa security and the ability to work.

Explainer: Wage Theft and Migrant Workers - Why Government and Business Systems are Failing

In partnership with Solidarity Center, The ILAW Network and MIDEQ, Migrant Justice Institute has produced a short Explainer for governments, business and advocates to support advocacy for reform. Based on extensive empirical research in different global regions, it provides accessible answers to key questions:

• What is wage theft and what forms can it take?

• Why do employers systemically underpay migrant workers?

• How is wage theft related to forced labour and modern slavery?

• Why don’t migrant workers report wage theft and bring claims against employers? What barriers are created by migration laws, and why don’t labour claim systems work for migrant workers?

The endemic exploitation of migrant workers in Australia must stop

The endemic exploitation of migrant workers in Australia must stop (The Canberra Times, 3 February, 2023)

Submission - Inquiry into Australia’s tourism and international education sectors

Submission - Inquiry into Australia’s tourism and international education sectors, 2022

Submission: Review, A Migration System for Australia’s Future

Submission: Review, A Migration System for Australia’s Future, 2022

Submission: Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth)

Submission: Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth)

Submission: Treasury Employment White Paper Consultation 2022

Submission: Treasury Employment White Paper Consultation 2022

Supplementary submission (question on notice): Inquiry into the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022

Supplementary submission (question on notice): Inquiry into the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022

Submission: Inquiry into the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022

Submission: Inquiry into the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022

Australia is bringing migrant workers back – but exploitation is still rampant. Here are 3 changes needed now

Australia is bringing migrant workers back – but exploitation is still rampant. Here are 3 changes needed now (The Conversation, 17 May, 2022)

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‘“We might not be citizens but we are still people”: Australia’s disregard for the human rights of international students during COVID-19’

Article: Bassina Farbenblum and Laurie Berg, ‘“We might not be citizens but we are still people”: Australia’s disregard for the human rights of international students during COVID-19’ (2021) Australian Journal of Human Rights

Submission: Inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Protecting Migrant Workers) Bill (2021)

Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, Inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Protecting Migrant Workers) Bill (2021)

Ending impunity for Wage Theft against Migrant Workers: Here’s How

Ending impunity for Wage Theft against Migrant Workers: Here’s How’ (Institute for Human Rights and Business Commentary Series, 9 Dec., 2021)

Image: Francesco Ungaro, Unsplash

Migrant Workers' Access to Justice for Wage Theft: A global study of promising initiatives

Bassina Farbenblum and Laurie Berg, Migrant Workers’ Access to Justice for Wage Theft: A Global Study of Promising Initiatives (2021)

Understanding International Students' Professed Satisfaction with Underpaid Work in Australia

Alexander Reilly, Joanna Howe, Laurie Berg and Bassina Farbenblum, 'Understanding International Students' Professed Satisfaction with Underpaid Work in Australia' (2021) 46(3) MonashUniversity Law Review 50 (Advance)

International Students and Wage Theft in Australia

Bassina Farbenblum and Laurie Berg, International Students and Wage Theft in Australia (2020)

As if We Weren't Humans: The abandonment of temporary migrants in Australia during COVID-19

Laurie Berg and Bassina Farbenblum, As If We Weren’t Humans: The Abandonment of Temporary Migrants in Australia During COVID-19 (2020)

'Garbage' and 'cash cows': temporary migrants describe anguish of exclusion and racism during COVID-19

The Conversation, 17 Sep. 2020

Image: Shutterstock

Wage Theft and Modern Slavery Risks on Campus

Report: UNSW Human Rights Clinic, Wage Theft and Modern Slavery Risks on Campus: Universities’ Responsibilities for Working Conditions in Contractor and Tenant Businesses (2020).

I will never come to Australia again: new research reveals the suffering of temporary migrants during the COVID-19 crisis

Laurie Berg and Bassina Farbenblum, I will never come to Australia again’: new research reveals the suffering of temporary migrants during the COVID-19 crisis (The Conversation, 17 Aug. 2020)