NTEU stands up for international students on new bill

NTEU is generally supportive of aspects of the Morrison Government's recently introduced Migration Amendment (Protecting Migrant Workers) Bill 2021, but has identified some shortcomings.

Stronger penalties for employers

The Bill attempts to apply new penalties to employers who coerce visa holders into breaching their visa conditions. The NTEU is generally supportive of stronger penalties for employers. After all, this coercion generally contributes to the circumstances under which temporary migrants are exploited.

This topic is of particular concern to the NTEU given how poorly many of our international students are treated in the labour market. We know anecdotally that employers actively use the penalties imposed on students for breaching the 40 hour per fortnight work limit as a way to get away with systematic underpayment and mistreatment.

Under current rules the student would be punished for this breach, but the employer would not be.

The Bill proposes introducing new penalties for employers in these circumstances of up to two years imprisonment or an $80,000 fine depending on the nature of the coercion. NTEU’s official submission to the Senate Inquiry into this Bill supported these penalties.

No whistleblower protection

However, NTEU also pointed out the flawed logic of imposing new penalties on employers with out protections for whistleblowers from prosecution for the same breach.

It is hard to believe that an international student would report their employer for coercing them to break the rules (work more than 40 hours or we’ll withhold the whole fortnight’s pay and fire you) when they are still liable to be penalised for the rule breach that they report!

The Bill does not provide any incentive or protection for exploited workers to report their employers. This is a major flaw, and raises questions about how genuine the Government is about stopping this practice.

The Bill also gives the Minister powers to prohibit certain employers from hiring visa holders as a penalty for coercing visa holders to breach work related requirements.

NTEU’s recommended changes

The NTEU’s submission recommendations included:

1. Restrictions that disempower temporary visa holders and empower exploitative employers should be removed. Including the mandatory 88 day work requirement for working holiday visa holders. International students should be given leniency around work hour restrictions when precariously employed in non-regular pattens of employment.

2. Protections should be added to indemnify temporary visa holders who report contraventions of the Migration Act.

3. The Department of Home Affairs should notify trade unions and the Fair Work Ombudsman of the list of prohibited employers and check in with trade unions about the activities of prohibited employers.

4. Empower the Fair Work Commission to make the determination that the relevant provisions were contravened (rather on relying only on the courts). 5. Allow parties to make written submissions setting out the reasons why the Minister should or should not make a declaration that an employer be prohibited.

The NTEU is actively monitoring the progress of this Bill and remains in contract with the ACTU and Migrant Workers Centre regarding temporary worker policy. ◆ Kieran McCarron, Policy & Research Officer

Kieran McCarron, Policy & Research Officer

Image: Stefano Lubiana/Flickr