00:00Nick has been in Australia for 13 years.
00:05While studying a marketing degree,
00:07he worked hospitality and retail jobs to make ends meet.
00:11He didn't know his rights or where to get support,
00:14so when he had issues, he didn't take action.
00:17Especially when you first come here,
00:18like, systems are very hard to understand.
00:20He stayed silent because he feared he'd jeopardise his visa.
00:24I was voiceless, let's say.
00:27He's now working for a union's Tasmania service
00:30offering outreach and confidential support for migrants
00:33who often face mistreatment at work.
00:36We are specialists about work and safety and equality,
00:41and it fills that gap.
00:43In February, the Fair Work Ombudsman
00:45fined the operators of United Petroleum Outlets
00:48at Sandy Bay and Kingston $180,000
00:52for underpaying four workers, all of them visa holders.
00:56Fair Work found that workers were paid unlawfully low flat rates
01:00and not being paid for extra hours they worked.
01:03And they are, again, not issues that are not faced by other workers,
01:07but they are disproportionately faced by migrant workers
01:12because of some of the challenges that they face coming in as new.
01:15Australian Border Force figures show in the past 10 years,
01:1914 Tasmanian businesses have been sanctioned
01:22for breaching their migrant sponsorship obligations.
01:25Using a worker's visa status to exploit them
01:27is now a federal offence,
01:29with new laws brought in last year to protect migrant workers.
01:32I think it's very important to create that awareness in the community too.
01:36If something doesn't feel right, you should speak up.
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