A large percentage of the international students currently calling Australia home get their first taste of part-time work whilst living here.

In countries such as China and India, manning the counter at 7-11, washing dishes in a restaurant or baby-sitting are not the kinds of jobs that students do in their part time in order to put away enough money to pay the bills and party. So, how are these students finding their first experience of part-time work in Australia? Current reports indicate that many international students have found the experience far from positive.

 

Back in December of last year The Age reported that international students in Victoria were regularly underpaid and faced exploitation in the workplace. The report, based on findings released by the Overseas Student Experience Taskforce, found that a significant number of students were working more than the 20 hours per week allowed for under their student visa conditions. The report stated that as a consequence of this visa breach, students were at risk of exploitation from employees. Having talked with many students about their experience of work in Australia I would say that workplace exploitation is more than just a risk, it is a reality. Whilst in Australia the Federal Minimum Wage is set at $14.31 per hour, I am yet to speak to an international student working a part-time job who has ever earned more than $12 per hour.

 

Many international students in Australia find part-time work in restaurants. Take a Cherry for example, a former student of mine from Beijing. Having never worked a part-time job in her life she found a job waiting tables in a Chinese restaurant in an effort to lessen the financial burden on her parents. She described the work as laborious, painting a picture of an unusually harsh boss who pushed her young employees to extremes. However, none of this is particularly unusual. We have all worked boring jobs and had bosses from hell. What makes this situation exploitative is that Cherry, like many other international students, received the grand total of $8 per hour for her efforts!

 

In accordance with the Taskforce report, she found herself agreeing to a reduced rate of pay in order to work over the 20 hours a week stipulated by her visa. Cherry was not the first to explain to me that competition for jobs amongst the student community is high enough that failing to agree to this kind of deal would have meant she was overlooked for the position. For a community that brings so many benefits to both the Australian economy and our cultural landscape, this hardly seems to be fair treatment.

 

One of the suggestions of the initial Taskforce report was that a review of these conditions would be carried out as part of the Victorian State Government’s International Education Strategy. I believe that international students should be allowed more flexible visa conditions and that the current stipulations regarding work exposes students to exploitation. Part-time work is always going to be a grind, but at the end of a long day slogging away behind a cash register, or washing dishes, or keeping an eye on someone’s kids, you should at least feel that you have been fairly rewarded for your efforts.