Ashleigh Mounser went on Facebook to vent about being offered as little as $10 an hour to work in a takeaway food shop. After asking if anyone else had experienced similar treatment, she was overwhelmed by complaints from 67 young workers within days of her posting.
"The response was enormous," said Mounser, 22, a Wollongong University graduate who independently began collecting these stories to take to the Fair Work Ombudsman. "I didn't expect the cases to be as bad as they were."
Fairfax Media has spent two months talking with Mounser and her original Facebook respondents, their employers and researchers about the illegal underpayment of workers under the age of 24. Not only are young Australians increasingly being ripped off, particularly in areas of high youth unemployment, many end up working for free in the desperate hope it may help them grasp a paid job.
The federal government's watchdog, the Fair Work Ombudsman, has about 240 inspectors to police millions of workplaces nationwide. The chances of millions of businesses being screened for any illegal underpayment of workers are relatively low. And they know it. Especially when they pay cash in hand and leave no pay slip trail to follow.
The collapse of union membership has also resulted in vulnerable workers having no advocate to hold employers to account. Many young workers, particularly those from overseas on temporary visas, often fear they may have too much to lose by joining or notifying a union.
Arthur Rorris, secretary of the South Coast Labour Council, the peak union body for the region, says Mounser has uncovered a culture of exploitation in Wollongong.
"One thing is certain," he says. "Given the scale of this scandal, if it's happening in Wollongong, it's happening everywhere."
Indeed, research about to be published reveals the pattern of exploitation is being repeated across the country.
Stephen Clibborn from the University of Sydney Business School has surveyed 1433 international students and 959 local students living in metropolitan Sydney as part of his research into the pay and conditions of university students in part-time work.
Dr Clibborn says cafes and restaurants, retail and cleaning are "hot spots for underpayment" for both domestic and international students.
Otherwise honest cafe owners find it impossible to compete with businesses that are undercutting them on wages.
"While 7-Eleven has been the one getting the attention," says Dr Clibborn, "this is a much bigger problem than just in that organisation."
Dr Clibborn says the results show that local and international students are, on a large scale, being paid less than legal rates. "But more temporary migrant workers are being underpaid and the amount they are underpaid is considerably greater than for local students."
If allowed to continue, underpayment of temporary migrants threatens to put downward pressure on wages in general "and spill over to the next vulnerable group … Australian youth".
Paula McDonald, professor of work and organisation at Queensland University of Technology, is also about to publish research on young people in south-east Queensland and South Australia that reveals how widespread underpayment is across the country.
After conducting 120 in-depth interviews with young people studying at university, TAFE and private training providers, she finds many are in unpaid work.
"What came out of those interviews unexpectedly for the vocational and pre-vocational students in particular was this issue of unpaid work," she says.
"It is a well-known phenomenon amongst university students, with the work-integrated learning push from employers, students and the universities."
What is less well understood is that unpaid work seems to be an increasing phenomenon among young people who are disadvantaged and not at university.
"It is a consequence of an ever-tightening labour market," McDonald says.
ACTU secretary Dave Oliver says underpayment of workers is a national issue and needs to be addressed urgently by both state and federal governments. "There should be harsh penalties for companies that are ripping off their workers," Oliver says.
"Trial shifts, abuse of training programs and simple underpayment are common in retail and hospitality sectors."
Mr Oliver urged anyone concerned they might be underpaid to use the union-funded free service at www.checkyourpay.com.au or to call 1300 486 466.
Do you know more? Email workplace@fairfaxmedia.com.au
