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Business Morality and International Students Exploitation Issue
1. Introduction
One month after I arrived in Australia, I was involved in a personal economic crisis. The cost
of day–to–day life was far more than I imagined. “I need a job.” I came out of this quite
decisively. After four months of working continuously, my salary has been raised to $13/hour
from $10 per hour, but this is still far below minimum wage. I even worked almost 40 hours
during the summer break of university legally. When my local friends told me that the
behaviour of the restaurant was so immoral and even illegal, I thought I should write an email
to Fair Work Ombudsman of Australian Government to let them know the situation. However,
I worried it would affect my job, and even my visa, negatively. While I felt unfair and
exploited at the moment, I thought at least I could earn my life independently, and at least it
was better than nothing.
This situation is very common among Australian International students who have a
casual/part–time job. An unexpected number of restaurants are using the loopholes in the law,
taking advantage of the weaknesses of International students such as poor English, little to no
working experience, and blindness to the law. Students may be injured during the busy season
in farms but are unable to receive any compensation because their employers don’t purchase
any insurance for them. Some business companies are more rampant, frightening the student
labours about cancelling their student visa if they dare to report them.
Facing the issue of International students working in Australia, the local government has
created protection, such as the Pay and Conditions Tool. However; due to asymmetric
information, students are blind to related policies and laws. Furthermore, the sheer amount of
international students looking for employment, and the lack of willing employers, lead to
market failure, and businesses can take advantage of it. Although the government is informed
about the issue, the pressure from stakeholders makes them reluctant to act. On the other hand,
it may be too broad for the government to control a country wide issue. Therefore, the immoral
businesses are still conducting the terrible exploitation toward international students, abusing
them as a negative externality.
2.1 Background
International students, of which there are over five hundred thousand enrolled in Australian
schools and universities, are extremely vulnerable to be taken advantage of by potential
employers. Governments do not provide adequate protection to foreign students, and
universities fail to provide adequate information regarding the students’ rights regarding
labour laws. Furthermore; of those students, many more than previously thought are engaged
in the workplace, and in a much narrower range of jobs than domestic students in similar
situations, not to mention that many work for less than minimum wage.
In order to protect employees, Australia utilises Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S)
legislation initiated in the mid–1980s (Gruszin et al., 2012). This legislation details the
obligations of employers to employees, such as providing a safe premises and equipment,
training, and a suitable working environment (Business.gov.au. 2013). It also details
employees’ responsibilities, which include looking after equipment, reporting hazards, as well
as injuries or harm to their health (Commission for Occupational Safety and Health, 2005).
When reporting Work Related Incidents (WRIs) some participants mentioned that cultural and
social values may prevent workers from South East Asia and China from necessarily reporting
