The Exploitation of Workers and Visa Rules in Australia

This dissertation investigates the exploitation of workers and declining labor conditions in Australia, specifically analyzing the impact of visa rules on small businesses and migrant workers. The study explores current labor conditions, factors contributing to worker exploitation, and the effects of visa policies. It examines the experiences of both employers and employees through interviews, providing insights into the challenges faced by migrant workers, including long working hours, low wages, and substandard accommodation. The research also considers the role of government policies and recommends potential solutions to improve labor conditions and address worker exploitation within the Australian context. The dissertation covers research methodologies, literature review, data analysis and provides conclusions and recommendations based on the findings.

DISSERTATION
THE EXPLOITATION OF
WORKERS AND DECLINING
LABOUR CONDITIONS IN
AUSTRALIA : THE IMPACT
OF VISA RULES

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1
Overview................................................................................................................................1
Research Aim.........................................................................................................................1
Research Objective.................................................................................................................1
Research questions:................................................................................................................2
Rationale of the study.............................................................................................................2
Problem statement..................................................................................................................2
Significant of the study...........................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................4
Current labour conditions in Australian marketplace.............................................................4
Reasons leading to exploitation of workers in Australian marketplace.................................4
To analyse the impact of visa policies and rules on the businesses.......................................6
Government policies helps to improve the health and safety condition of the migrant’s worker
in the Australia.......................................................................................................................7
Criteria by which improving labour conditions and exploitation can be tackled in Australia 8
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................10
Research philosophies-.........................................................................................................10
Research approach................................................................................................................11

Research design-...................................................................................................................11
Data analysis.........................................................................................................................12
Data collection-....................................................................................................................13
Research techniques.............................................................................................................14
Sampling...............................................................................................................................14
CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION.....................................................16
EMPLOYER INTERVIEW...........................................................................................................16
EMPLOYEES INTERVIEW.........................................................................................................19
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION......................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................24

CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION
Overview
In any organisation employees play a very crucial role, who assist in attaining the
organisational objective within a time period. In the absence of human resource, company can
unable to carry out its functions. While company have effective labour and workforce then it's
positively influence organisation’s success and profitability. Lack of highly skilled employees
can decline the profitability of organisation. Reduction of numbers of labour can also impact on
country's economic conditions. In this present report, changes in the visa regulation and its
impact on the workers condition in the Australia has been elaborated. In the present time,
Australia has liberated its visa and migration law which hugely impacted the labour force in the
market (Hannes and Parylo, 2014). Due to these changes in the visa law and rules, there is
declining the numbers of labour in the business enterprise. Small business enterprise can highly
affected while government made any changes in the visa rules and policies. In order to analyse
the actual condition of the country, researcher has organised data collection program under
which researcher have taken interview of 2 employers and 1 employees of the organisation. With
help of this method information can be collected with respect of impact of changes in the visa
rule on the workers and small business enterprise (Mandakovic, Cohen and Amorós, 2015). In
order to attain the objective, researcher has focused on the various methods of research
methodologies such as research approach, philosophies, techniques, data collection, sampling
etc. In addition to this, literature review chapter also included in this research study which
provides detail knowledge and understanding about the subject. In this chapter, various views
and opinion of the author has been included about the impact of visa policies and rule in the
labour market in Australia.
Research Aim
“To analyse the impact of changes in the visa rules on the workers of small business enterprise
because of exploitation of workers: A case study on Australia”
Research Objective
 To study the current labour conditions in Australian market
 To analyse the factors leading to exploitation for workers in Australian market
 To analyse the impact of new visa rules on businesses in Australia
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 To recommend ways in which declining labour conditions and exploitation can be
tackled in Australia
Research questions:
 What are the current labour conditions in the Australian marketplace?
 Does the lack of government policies regarding the rights of the foreign workers has
adversely impacted on their working conditions?
 How can government policies be improved to increase the health and safety conditions of
the migrant workers in the country?
 How new visa rules affecting businesses in Australia can be resolved?
 Is it possible to improve the conditions of non-Anglo workers? If yes, then how?
 What are the ways to increase migration of international students in South Australia or
Tasmania?
Rationale of the study
In this present study, the major objective of researcher is to analyse the impact of
changes in the visa rules on the workers of small business enterprise because of exploitation of
workers with respect of Australia. The major reason for selection of this topic of investigation is
that scholar have huge interest in investigating the changes in visa policies and rules in the
Australia and its impact on the labour market. Another major reason for selection of this study is
that researcher desires to investigate current labour condition in the Australia market and also
wants to identify, how government policies can improve the health and safety condition of the
migrant workers in Australia. Researcher has sufficient information about this aspect that is why
this topic has been selected as the research topic.
Problem statement
In the present study, researcher has collected information from various sources such as
primary and secondary. In the context of primary data correction, researcher have faced issue
related to analyse and assess the various views, opinion and suggestion from several
respondents. It has been quite difficult to address views and opinion of every individual in this
present investigation. In addition to this, in the secondary data collection scholar have faced
problem it is very difficult to cover all aspect of labour condition in Australia.
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Significant of the study
The major objective of the investigator in this research study is to analyse the impact of
changes in the visa rules on the workers of small business enterprise because of exploitation of
workers with respect of Australia. With assistance of this study, scholar can effectively collect
information about current labour condition in the Australian marketplace. In addition to this, this
study helps in getting knowledge and detail about the new visa rules and its impact in the
Australia.
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CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW
Current labour conditions in Australian marketplace
The conditions of labour market in Australia strengthened in the years 2015- 2016.
There was also an increase in the level of employment. This improvement in labour market
conditions was a result of the structural shift towards those services sectors which were more
labour intensive. However, there was a serious issue of exploitation of certain migrant worker
groups who were employed in Australia on the basis of Working Holiday Maker (417 and 462)
visas (Akbari and MacDonald, 2014). This was specially observed in the meat processing and
horticultural industries. The labourers were made to work for long working hours and at
comparatively low wages. Industries such as nursing and construction also suffered with issue of
worker exploitation and poor working conditions.
According to Preibisch, (2010), the working conditions in Australia have deteriorated as
the welfare aspects related to employees are not taken care of. Not only are the employees were
underpaid, they were sometimes kept for days without wages. It was found that there were issues
of provision of substandard accommodation to the workers, which was clearly indicative of
deteriorating working conditions. Unnecessary and unexplained deductions in the wages are
other reasons which depict declining working conditions in Australia. Moreover, the labourers
are made to work for longer hours which even exceeded the hours specified in their working
visa. The workers were also made to live and sleep in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions
which posed health risks to them. They also face the issue of lack of access to health care leading
to deaths of a number of farm workers.
As per the views of Mares, (2012), there was exploitation of migrant labours on
Australian farms. The labour working on farms faced slavery and were exploited and abused for
delivering fresh product to market. The decline in working conditions reflected the harsh and
substandard treatment of workers. The labourers are not allowed to stop for water or break
during their shift. They were also subjected to verbal abuse.
Reasons leading to exploitation of workers in Australian marketplace
According to Bahn, Barratt-Pugh and Yap, (2012), plethora of temporary visas have
significantly resulted in the exploitation of migrant workers. Currently, in Australia, at any time
there are around 1 million people who have the right to work on the basis of temporary residence
visas. These include 457 visa holders, students or working holiday makers. According to Wright
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(2015), the work visas are governed by program settings and current policy. These make the
migrant as well as Australian workers disadvantaged and thus open to exploitation.
There has been concerns regarding 457 visa program, which has led to large scale
exploitation of migrant workers. Workers who worked on 457 visas were provided 28 days to
find a new job or else they would be expelled out of the country as their visa expires. This allows
the unscrupulous employers to force the migrant workers to enter into a contract and adhere to
their demands. The threat of being forced out of the country makes the workers vulnerable to
accept the demands of the employers and suffer gross exploitation. When the workers realize
that they have been trapped in jobs that are exploitative, they lack knowledge regarding the ways
to deal with this situation. Furthermore, the situation became even worse for them as they fear
reporting it to authorities because this might breach their visa conditions. Robertson, (2014)
asserted that the workers were exploited because of the fear of being dismissed if they refuse to
keep working. Obligation around their visa thus makes them susceptible to exploitation.
The Asian and European workers visit Australia for a working holiday. The travel
agents then sign up these people for work. The workers come to Australia on working holiday
visa according to which they are allowed to work for six months for an employer. Although the
visa is for low skill work, these workers are seldom traced by the authorities at their current
working place. In this way, they become vulnerable to exploitation. Preibisch, (2010) found that
rewards promised to the workers are seldom materialized. Workers were made to sign contrast
for five years, which binds them to remain committed to return to work each season. However,
the farm workers are paid 40 per cent less of the promised amount. Lack of awareness among
workers is one of the reasons leading to their exploitation. They are provided invalid reasons for
payment of less amount and as they are not aware about the exact facts, they are not in a position
to question their exploitation.
Velayutham, (2013) argued that there is a difference between subclass 457 visa holders
and other employees in Australia. This is because, the ability of 457 visa holders to remain in
Australia depends upon their employers. This makes these visa holders vulnerable to
exploitation. They also do not report problems of exploitation which makes the situation even
worse for them. These visa holders are structurally dependent on the sponsoring employer which
forms one of the key reasons for their exploitation. This dependence provides authority and
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power to their employers who take undue advantage of it and insert illegal clauses in the
employment contracts.
As per the views of Akbari and MacDonald, (2014), language difficulties faced by the
migrant workers made them further exposed to exploitation. Lack of language awareness made
the workers confused as to whom to contact in case of the problems related to working
conditions. Further, as they did not possess understanding of language, the workers could not
understand the exact terms and conditions of the employment. They are thus entirely dependent
on their employers who made them work for extremely long hours at significantly low
payments. In his regard, it is important to consider the aspect of undocumented workers. Bahn,
Barratt-Pugh and Yap, (2012) explored that there is long term exploitation of undocumented
workers as they fear from the risk of being detected and penalised. This is also one of the reasons
that the workers are too afraid to speak about their exploitation.
To analyse the impact of visa policies and rules on the businesses
According to the view of Campana, (2015) visa policies in the Australia is dealing with
the requirement which foreign national law and regulation in the US. A visa is a certificate
which is issued or stamp marked by the immigration authorities of the country. While anyone
enters and visit in the new country then they have to issue this certificate by the immigration
authority. Every country has their own rules and policies related to the visa which impact their
activities and function in the country. If country’s government makes any changes in the visa
rule and policies then its hugely impact on the people living style and standard because they are
restricted to follow these new rules and regulations. In the opinion of Carmody and Murphy,
(2017) while in the Australia, government and immigration author changes the rules and policies
in the visa then it huge impact on the business enterprise because there are several sectors where
have large numbers of immigrants people who came from the another country. There are several
kinds of the visa such asd single entry visa which is valid for one visit. Another visa is multiple
entry visa which allow any numbers of visits within its validity period and another visa is
business visa which is developed for short visit for conduct in order to discussion, negotiation
and presentation on behalf of the business. Another visa is tourist visa which allows people to
move around the country and briefly cross its frontiers to another country and return. While in
the Australia, any changes occurred in the visa policies and rules then its will huge impact on the
business enterprise and labour market because there are various sectors such as small, large and
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other which have large numbers of the immigrants’ labour who came from another country. If
government of Australia makes any changes in the police and rules of the visa then it well
impacts on the labour markets. Due to changes in the policies and rules in the visa, people have
to made the changes in their visa and follow all rules and formalities which is imposed by the
government. In the opinion of Faggian, Corcoran and Rowe, (2016) with help of visa policies
and facilities, organisation can hire the employees from another country so visa plays a very
crucial role for the business enterprise. This helps in increasing the numbers of employees
because another country employee can come into the country for business purpose. Thus, it can
be said that while in the country there are occurs any changes in the visa then nit will huge
impact on the business enterprise and labour market in the country. According to the view of
Gomez-Mejia, Berrone and Franco-Santos, (2014) while changes occurred in the visa policies
and rules then business organisation labour can leave the company because they have to leaving
country.
Government policies helps to improve the health and safety condition of the migrant’s worker in
the Australia
According to the view Deshpandé, Grinstein and Ofek, (2013) government plays a very
critical role in the country to protect and keep secure employees’ rights. It is only the body
which provide employees right and protect them from unethical activities and action done by the
country and other people. While any migrants come in to the country then government policies
and practices can keep them secure deliver their rights and precise which developed by
government. With help of impressive practices, norms and standards of the employment,
Australian government can easily deliver health and safety top employees through which they
can improve their working condition in new country and carry out their work in an impressive
manner. In the opinion of Collison and Marchesseault, (2016) Australia government have
developed work health and safety act 2011 through which employees’ health can securer and
they can effectively carry out their work in an organisation. According to this act, company have
to provide a high quality of working environment to employees where less risk of uncertain
accident and harms. According to this act, workplace should secure and protected where not any
kind of accident and hazard for employees. If any kind of the accident occurs at the workplace
with employees then it is great responsibility of organisation to provide remedies and money for
the treatment expenditures. In addition to this, government have developed several kinds of
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legislation for employment security and protection which provide effective working
environment to employees. With help of these legislations and law, government can provide
effective protection and health safety to employees at workplace. In the Australia, government
have made several kinds of the standard for employees by which they can motivate and
encourage employees. Every organisation either it is large and small size should follow these
legislations and norms to protect its workforce. These developed policies and practices of health
and safety can also helpful for migrant people who came from the other countries.
Criteria by which improving labour conditions and exploitation can be tackled in Australia
According to the view of Ansara, (2015) labour market in the Australia is continuously
declining because there has changes made in the rules and policies of the labour market. Due to
changes in the rules and policies of the visa policies and practices, the small business enterprise
performance and profitability has been decline as many of the labour are not able to continue
their employment in the Australia. While government of Australia makes any changes in the
policies and practices of visa then its huge impact occurs on the labour market and exploitation
has automatically increased. In the opinion of Cherian and Jacob, (2013) there are several ways
to improve the labour exploitation in the Australia by which organisations such as small and
large business enterprise can easily tackle the condition of labour in the market. In the opinion of
Coleman and Ringrose, (2013) countries government should make core workplace standards and
develop such impressive policies and practices for the labour through which employees can gain
effective satisfaction level as comp are top other countries. These new policies and practices can
cover in terms of the wages rate, salary, working condition, health and safety, voice on the job
etc. With help of the impressive workplace standard and norms in the industry related to
employees, companies in the Australia can provide high quality of working environment and
satisfying their needs and wants. With help of updating health and safety regulation and policies
for the employees, small business enterprise can give the high level of safe and secure working
environment where no risk and harm for personnel. Employees motivation level can also
enhance in the Australia, while government can focus on develop more effective and impressive
health and safety policies and standard for the employees. On the contradicting views Blackburn,
Hart and Wainwright (2013) stated that country's government have to designed legislation and
practices improving incentives and compensation. With help of impressive incentive and
compensation program level of motivation among the labour in Australia can improve. An
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incentive program may be anything from sale context to offering more empowerment to
personnel. According to the view of Crossley, Cooper and Wernsing, (2013) government should
create a new director of labour market enforcement. With help of this strategy, there can create
the support of a director of labour market enforcement to bring together the work of existing
enforcement agencies and to provides a more joined up response. In addition to this, government
of the Australia should create or design new offence of aggravated breach of labour market
legislation. In this manner, they can create an offence involving a motivation intention to deprive
a worker of their rights or to exploit a worker in connection with the commission of offence and
also it should create a new type of improvement notice. According to the view of Cerasoli,
Nicklin and Ford, 2014) government should organise the social participation program and
activities in the Australia for the migrants people so as they can feel comfortable and motivated
themselves. Migrants people can takes the participation in the social program and activities
through which they can improve their motivation level and can not feel alone in the new country.
Government should organise welfare and effective social events for them through which they
can get effective benefit in an excellent manner.
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