Australia to prosecute firms that 'underpaid' Pinoy workers

Australia will prosecute three firms and a company director for allegedly underpaying four Filipino oil rig workers. Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman said Hong Kong-based Pocomwell Ltd., Philippines-headquartered Supply Oilfield and Marine Personnel Services, Australian firm SurveySpec Pty. Ltd., and SurveySpec director Thomas Civiello will face a court for supposedly underpaying the four Filipinos a total of $127,425. The four Filipinos — who work as specialist marine painters on a floating North West Shelf oil rig off Western Australia — were paid $3 an hour from July 2009 to March 2011, the Ombudsman said. The men were working 12 hours a day in all days of the week, it added. The Ombudsman pointed out that because the oil rigs, reportedly owned by Maersk, were in Australia’s exclusive economic zone, “the men were entitled to be paid the minimum wage rates, allowances, overtime rates, and weekend and public holiday rates applicable in Australia." The four Filipino marine painters were also allegedly given 456 Australian visas, not the supposed 457 visas, it said. The 456 visa allows somebody to make a short business trip to Australia for a period up to three months during one’s visa validity period. But the 457 visa, says the Australian Ministry of Immigration, is an employer-nominated temporary residence visa and is for companies to employ staff from overseas countries from between one day to four years. Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson was quoted in the Australian media as saying that the four Filipinos “were working quite extraordinary hours without breaks… 12-hour days for seven days per week pretty much continuously." The Ombudsman — who ensures Australian companies’ compliance with workplace laws in the Commonwealth — lodged prosecution documents in the Federal Court in Perth. The case is due in court next month, according to Wilson, adding that “it was likely that Australian court action can be taken against Pocomwell and SOS" since the Ombudsman observed “there have been breaches and [these] can be proven to a court." The case of the four Filipinos was brought to the Ombudsman’s attention by the Australian Workers’ Union, particularly by the Australian Workers Union (AWU) member, Maritime Union of Australia (MUA). When AWU-MUA brought up the case last March, Maersk was quoted in the oil-and-gas newspaper Upstream as saying that the company had launched a company-wide audit to avoid similar incidents in the future. The Ombudsman said the alleged non-payment of the supposed rates for marine painters resulted in underpayment whose amounts range from $25,733 to $37,537. — OFW Journalism Consortium