Labor Leader Luke Foley has met with young workers in Wollongong to hear their concerns about wage theft while outlining his comprehensive plan to eliminate the exploitation of vulnerable employees.

Mr Foley unveiled the plan during the NSW Annual Labor Conference, which will target unscrupulous employers and attract the heaviest penalties in Australia as well as jail terms for individuals.

In addition to a comprehensive five point plan, NSW Labor will:

• Require businesses to publicly display minimum wages rates paid to staff with their business registration where patrons and public can see;
• Place businesses found to have breached the law on a public “name and shame” register, and make them ineligible to participate in future contracts with the NSW Government;
• Ensure disputes and other issues regarding apprenticeships and vocational training which are regulated by State law can be heard in the Industrial Relations Commission

Mr Foley, Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Adam Searle and Wollongong MP Paul Scully met with Ashleigh Mounser, who bravely campaigned on behalf of workers in the Illawarra on the unfortunate widespread practice of wage theft within certain sectors of the local community. The Wollongong University student then collected stories from other affected workers to take to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Labor’s comprehensive package to outlaw the exploitation of workers, the majority of whom are young and have recently entered the workforce, will protect people like Ashleigh and other workers in the Illawarra.

Supporting Labor’s tough reforms is local business owner Mani Rosete, who operates San Churro Wollongong and says every single one of his employees who came from him from another job had been underpaid. Mr Rosete also took complaints to the Fair Work Ombudsman over concerns so many young people were having negative experiences in the workforce.

Quotes attributable to Opposition Leader Luke Foley

“Vulnerable young workers are being cheated out of a staggering amount of wages by unscrupulous bosses and it has to stop.  We know the Liberals will never act - but Labor will.

“We’ll deliver a new wage theft law to criminalise the deliberate failure to pay wages and other entitlements.

“Our new laws won’t apply to genuine mistakes. Employers who do the right thing will benefit as they won’t be competing with under-cutting cheats. But we’ll go after that minority whose business model is based on exploitation.”

Quotes attributable to Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Adam Searle

“Everyone should be paid fairly and legally for the work they perform. What we have seen here in the Illawarra is widespread abuse of some of the most vulnerable workers – young people who are the future of our community. We pay tribute to the courage of Ashleigh and others who stood up, and to the South Coast Labour Council for supporting them in the quest for their outstanding pay.

“Only NSW Labor has a positive plan to combat this abuse. Our plan emerged from discussions held with these young people at our roundtable at the University in February this year. Today I am pleased to report back and say: we have listened and we have acted.”

Quotes attributable to Member for Wollongong Paul Scully

“I’m very pleased to welcome Luke Foley and Adam Searle, on behalf of my Illawarra Parliamentary colleagues, back to Wollongong with a comprehensive policy package to protect workers from exploitation.

“This is a great Labor package and it’s been strengthened by the courage of people like Ashleigh Mounser, a young exploited worker, and Mani Rosete, an ethical business person, who have stood up with the clear message that enough is enough.

“It is also recognition of the work of the South Coast Labour Council in shining a light on this issue.

“Workers deserve a fair days pay and employers need to do business ethically.”