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To: B&E Poultry

B&E Poultry, pay your workers what they're owed!

1. Pay workers now! Dozens of backpackers are owed tens of thousands in backpay!
請立即清償所有的欠薪,數十名背包客都被欠薪上萬元!

2. Abide by Australian workplace law. No more cash in hand!
遵守勞動法規定,不再有現金工

3. Stop exploiting workers on holiday in Australia that have language barriers or a lack of Australian workplace knowledge.
不要在剝削打工度假,只因為我們英文不好或是對勞動法規認識不足!

請在此連署支持

Why is this important?

You might not have heard of B&E Poultry but they’re quickly becoming one of the biggest poultry companies in Australia. They are involved in supplying chicken to Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, KFC and Pizza Hut. B&E Poultry and their subcontractors pay their employees wages that are below the legal minimum. Their workers are now owed tens of thousands of dollars in back pay and B&E is refusing to pay up. NUW backpackers here on working holidays are demanding back pay now!

Here is one couple's story:

We came to Australia for a working holiday. We wanted to earn some money and travel around Australia. We really wanted to see Uluru, Cairns, Sydney and Tasmania, but we haven't been able to see any of these. We haven’t been able to earn enough money to leave Victoria.

In July 2014 we got a job with a man at a poultry factory.

We regularly worked more than 10 hours a day, sometimes until midnight. We were paid $16 or $17 per hour cash-in-hand no matter what time of day it was or how long we worked. We didn't realise this was not legal in Australia. Lots of holiday makers were being paid this way. We signed a lot of paperwork, but it was never clear what it was.

Our breaks changed all the time, sometimes when it was busy our smoke break would disappear. We would clock on and off, but our supervisor would pay what he thought instead of what our clock cards said.

The work was hard and we felt very tired. We were pushed to work harder and faster and I was scared that I would be injured. I felt like my English wasn’t good enough so I wouldn't be able to get work anywhere else.

It felt like discrimination. Taiwanese holiday makers were always forced to do overtime for the flat rate. Permanent workers didn't get offered overtime. We can understand how local workers are angry about this too.

Somewhere along the line we became employees of a contractor called B&E poultry. It was always unclear who we were working for.

One day we found out about the union through another backpacker. Organisers from the union came to our house and spoke to us. We realised what was happening wasn't right. We all decided to join the union.

Through word of mouth and social media, working holiday visa workers in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney who work for B&E subcontractors heard what we were doing and joined us in demanding back pay and fair treatment.

We would like all holiday makers in Australia to be treated with respect during their time in Australia and earn at least the legal minimum for the work they do. If we had been on minimum wage we would have been earning $25.44 , and maybe we would have been able to see Uluru.

This petition is about equality and respect, something we have learned the union movement in Australia will fight for.
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你在澳洲可能從未聽過 B&E 雞肉廠這家公司,但在他們在雞肉產業快速成長,他們所提供的勞動力遍佈全澳。他們上游的供應商包括知名的超市,Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, 等,大型速食業KFC 和Pizza Hut。這家人力仲介與他旗下的工頭聯手,以低薪價格來欺瞞背包客,現今,所有他們旗下的背包客共欠薪高達澳幣數十萬元,而他們還以拖延手段不願償還!NUW 代表這些工會裡的背包客要求B&E 立即清償所有欠薪!

以下是來自兩個背包客的自述:

我們到澳洲打工度假,所參與的短期工作只是為了賺錢可以環遊澳洲,我們很想看烏魯魯的大石頭、雪梨、凱恩斯、和塔斯馬尼亞,但我們哪都沒去,我們根本沒賺到足夠的錢離開維多利亞州。

去年七月我們在雞肉廠找到一份工作

一開始時從下午一點半開始工作到晚上十點,有時甚至工作到半夜。老闆給我們一小時時薪$16-17元不等,而且都是領現金。我們不曉得這在澳洲是違法的,很多背包客的工作都是算小時直接領現金的,剛進入工廠時,我們簽屬了一堆文件,但從沒人跟我們解釋我們簽了甚麼。

我們的休息時間經常變動,很多時間當工廠訂單大時,我們連休息時間都被犧牲了,我們跟其他在地工人一樣,打卡上下班,但是我們的薪水從來沒有依照打卡時間來給付。

工作很辛苦而且我們常覺得很累,生產部門常常要我們做快一點,我常覺得不知道甚麼時候我就會在工作時發生意外,因為自己的英文能力有限,我覺得在別的地方會找不到工作。

常常在工作時,我都會感受到種族歧視,台灣的背包客總是被強迫加班,而且也沒有加班費,在地的工人因為全職的保障,起薪高加班費也加成,所以老闆不會給他們加班的機會,我也能理解到為何在地工人常常藉機找我們麻煩。

我常覺得就是因為我的薪水比別人低,所以經理常常使喚我們做東做西

在無意間我們得知,原來我們是受雇一家叫做B&E的雞肉處理廠仲介,之前我們根本不知道自己的雇主是誰。

透過其他的背包客我們才知道有工會的存在,這些工會的組織者到我們家跟我們解釋我們的工作權利,我們才知道原來一直以來我們拿的薪水連基本的薪資都不到,另一方面,連最基本的工作權利都被雇主故意忽略。

透過社群網路的宣傳力量,散落在全澳各地如墨爾本、雪梨或阿德等為B&E工作的背包客們,都紛紛加入了我們,除追訴欠薪外並要求再工作上最基本的尊重。而這些背包客所處理的雞肉供應跨及全澳,包括最大的量販賣場如Coles, Woolworths, 及其他速食業等。

我們希望所有在澳洲的打工度假者,在勞動市場中都能跟在地的工人一樣,享有最基本的工作權利,拿取法定基本的薪資。如果我們能拿到法定雞肉廠的時薪$25.44澳幣,我們就能完成去烏魯魯的夢想了。

這份聯署書是起草於尊重與平等,我們相信澳洲的工會運動會起而跟我們並肩作戰。

How it will be delivered

In person to B&E head office by NUW members and supporters as part of a press conference

Partner

Links

Updates

2015-03-23 21:38:58 -0400

1,000 signatures reached

2015-03-14 02:02:26 -0400

500 signatures reached

2015-03-03 08:16:32 -0500

100 signatures reached

2015-03-03 06:26:00 -0500

50 signatures reached

2015-03-03 05:28:07 -0500

25 signatures reached

2015-03-03 04:27:06 -0500

10 signatures reached