These workers were being paid around $3 an hour
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and Australian Workers Union (AWU) have welcomed the decision by the Fair Work Ombudsman to prosecute three companies, and one company director, over more than Aus$120,000 in alleged underpayments of four Filipino nationals who worked on oilrigs off Western Australia.
Union activists members of the MUA-AWU Offshore Alliance discoveredthat these workers were being paid around $3 an hour, less than a high school student working at McDonald’s, says the Alliance.
Paul Howes, AWU national secretary, said that foreign workers on Australias offshore oilrigs, must be treated with respect and decency, and able to earn the same wages Australians would expect for the job.
Source: ITF
