Category Archives: Wage Slavery

Hey, whatever you've gotta tell yourself to get through the day. Via PragerU/YouTube

If youve ever wondered what the anti-Streetfilm would look like, wonder no more.

Prager University ([we are] not a university and we do not offer degrees)is a non-profit founded by conservative talk show host Dennis Prager, whose mission is to spread Americanism.

PragerU, as its known, releases five-minute videos on a range of topics, featuring titles like, If There Is No God, Murder Isnt Wrong, There Is No Gender Wage Gap, Income Inequality Is Good, Just Say Merry Christmas, Was the Civil War About Slavery?, Build the Wall, and Where Are the Moderate Muslims?

Its latest video, released this week, is about another fundamental American value:driving big, gas-guzzling cars and not using other modes of transportation, becausefreedom.

The video is presented by Lauren Fix, a New York-based car coach who also hosts an automotive segment on Newsmax, the right-wing outlet.

In case youre not aware that cars are private vehicles used for point-to-point transportation, Fix lays it out for you. They allow us to go wherever we want, whenever we want, with whomever we want, she says. When you get behind the wheel, you are in control. You are free.

Got that, car drivers? You have now been informed that you are free. Yes, free to get stuck in traffic, or circle endlessly for a parking space, or make large monthly payments until youre on the verge of bankruptcy. This is pure American freedom.

Fix also has a message for everyone who cant afford a car, or is physically unable to drive, or just prefers to live life without being tethered to a big, expensive metal box whose value rapidly depreciates. The message is: Wake up! Dont you realize youve been brainwashed by regulators?

The very reason people love cars personal freedom is also why regulators cant stand them. Government at all levels craves control. And when it comes to your car, they want you off the road. So do the environmentalists, with whom theyve made common cause, she says.Urban planners are adding bike lanes, reducing parking spots, and pouring billions into more public transportation. And theyre putting up subliminal ads everywhere that say Obey.

Fix says nothing about the ubiquitous government mandates that force developers to spend billions on parking, orthe massive public subsidies that sustain auto sprawl, or the pervasive regulatory apparatus thats supposed to protect us from the danger of cars, but still cant prevent 40,000 traffic deaths in the U.S. each year.

Apparently, only a government bureaucrat would harp on this government excess, or something. Theres been a concerted push by government bureaucrats and environmentalists to transform car ownership from a source a pride to a source of guilt, she says.Americas car culture isnt dead yet. So as long as Americans want to live in the land of the free, Americas car culture will never die.

God bless you, Veronica Moss I mean, Lauren Fix and PragerU. And God bless Americanism.

Excerpt from:

This War on Cars Video Will Defend America From Transit-Riding Infidels - Streetsblog Denver (blog)

Molly Harriss Olson, Fairtrade Australia and New Zealands chief executive officer. Photo by: Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand

MELBOURNE, Australia A total of 196 submissions have been received for an Australiangovernment inquiry for the implementation of a Modern Slavery Act, including from corporations, nonprofits, government staffers, researchers and others with an interest in ensuring Australian businesses act ethically to ensure there is no slavery in their supply chains.

On Tuesday in Melbourne, the inquiry began its public hearing component, withFairtrade Australia and New ZealandandOxfamamong the organizations requested to speak to the committee members and provide additional information on their submission.

Among those in attendance was Molly Harriss Olson, chief executive officer of Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand, who shared with Devex her predictions for what Australian businesses and the community should expect from the inquiry recommendations to be released later this year.

Here is the interview, edited for length and clarity.

What was the line of questioning you received from the committee?

We were asked a broad set of questions about why the Modern Slavery Act is important, what is the situation today, what is international best practice and the essential things that we can improve upon from the recently released United Kingdom act.

There were also a lot of questions asked about its impact on business.

We emphasized that the act needs to be strong to support the business leaders already out there, already doing great work, and pulling the leg of laggards to help them to comply with a higher standard and make sure human rights and dignity are provided to all people.

Slavery is a continuum of abuses, and starts with the weakest and most vulnerable. For businesses, slavery is always going to be cheaper than paying a modern, living wage and the prevailing approach has been dont ask, dont tell to maintain plausible deniability.

Australian businesses readying for action to combat modern slavery

For Australian businesses, addressing modern slavery within supply chains is no longer a question of why it should be done, but how. The message, however, is not filtering through to the top level of governments. A new Australian government inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia is seeking business comment and it is an opportunity business groups are urging their members to be vocal on.

But there are a lot of leading companies that deeply understand the problems and challenges that exist in supply chains, and believe that because of the pressure and the way global commerce systems work, there is enormous competition and pressure.

Fairtade has a unique perspective to offer on the value of this kind of transparency in eliminating things like modern slavery.

For more than 30 years we have worked with businesses to make their supply chain transparent and understand it from farmer through to the company and the marketplace. We have visibility across supply chains that I dont believe many other global certification systems would have. And this is important knowledge to share in creating a Modern Slavery Act.

When you discuss the importance of Australia taking a strong leadership approach to slavery through a strong act, what are your key points to focus on?

I think it is important to point out that, in Australia, we are in a region where 56 per cent of the global 21 million people in slave labor conditions are based. Asia is the biggest place and problem for slave labor, which has been identified by the International Labour Organization.

Australian leadership, and Australian business leadership, is absolutely pivotal.

And we also have a situation where leadership companies are doing the right thing and they are forced to play against non-leadership and poorly run companies who are benefitting from poor practices that are ultimately causing the issues of slavery we are seeing in the world.

What we hope this will do, is in a straightforward and simple way, provide clarity and requirements for a level playing field.

Its really important the system have clear reporting to monitor companies and create a public register for community organizations to access and know which companies are doing the right thing, reporting in a transparent manner, and which are getting on top of these issues.

And it is extremely important to have an ombudsman or commissioner who is well resourced to respond to problems or issues, raise awareness and conduct monitoring and evaluation for the act to make a powerful impact.

We have more slavery in the world than we had hundreds of years ago when we were trying to abolish it.

From the business perspective, it is just good business practice to know what is going on in your supply chain. In the 50s, there was concern about safety being too costly for business. The same happened with quality and environmental protection. It turns out that companies which adhere to these kinds of standards are more profitable in the end because they understand their businesses better.

Were in an interesting place in Australia, and I hope this will build on the experience of the U.K. From them, we are already seeing what is working well and what Australia can improve on.

Do you or Fairtrade have concerns of political barriers, or politicians, that could create problems in implementing a Modern Slavery Act?

I think it would be extremely hard to stand up publicly and say Im for slavery. So far, we havent seen anyone coming out overtly in that way.

The concern is that it is very easy to water down something like this, and to make it ineffectual. There would be enormous pressure on anyone trying to reduce impact and effectiveness. Making it voluntary, making it unenforceable, not being clear on reporting requirements, not monitoring reporting are all ways the act could be watered down.

But we have more slavery in the world than we had hundreds of years ago when we were trying to abolish it and the short-term challenge of developing the frameworks for monitoring, evaluation and reporting will be a long-term be cost saving to companies there is nothing more costly than for your reputation to be absolutely destroyed.

The problem we have seen in the U.K. is that only about 30 percent of companies who are required to report have reported. For the ones that have reported, there is no clear, publicly-available site where organizations can look up reports.

We can learn from this, and do better in Australia.

Based on the lines of questioning and political statements so far on a Modern Slavery Act, what do you think we will see with recommendations from this inquiry?

There is a high expectation that there will be mandatory reporting and enforcement of that reporting. We expect there will be a very well-resourced commissioner, and the CEO and the board of businesses will be identified as responsible for their companys business practices.

We expect it to be strong. I think there are a lot of organizations across Australia supporting strong legislation, and we are hopeful it will be an effective piece of improvement for the world.

With Australia expected to get a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, how important is it to have strong and leading legislation such as the Modern Slavery Act to Australias international reputation?

It is extremely important.

In the eyes of the international community, Australia has a number of issues that it has not dealt with well in regard to human rights. But this is not a trade-off I see it as something where Australian leadership can be pivotal in providing regional integrity but for Australia to have a seat, our consistency and integrity across the board needs to be present.

Even if we pass the best Modern Slavery Act in the world, we still have to address these other human rights issues.

Read more international development newsonline, and subscribe to The Development Newswireto receive the latest from the worlds leading donors and decision-makers emailed to you free every business day.

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Q&A: Molly Harriss Olson on the importance of a Modern Slavery Act - Devex

Stacking shelves or working on a factory production line may seem like ordinary jobs to some, but for trafficking victims newly hired at British supermarket Co-op, just being paid a decent wage to work has been a life-changing experience.

"I have a new life now, a better one. I've got good managers, good colleagues, a very good working environment," said Victor, who was trafficked from Romania.

In the first employment program of its kind, Co-op and anti-trafficking charity CityHearts launched 'Bright Future' in March, and have plans to offer work to 30 trafficking victims this year. So far, nine men and women have accepted jobs at the supermarket's stores or warehouses.

Victor, who declined to give his full name or say how he had been trafficked and exploited, has worked at a factory with Co-op for five months.

"I love the UK, I would like to live and work here. I want to keep this job," he said in a telephone interview through an interpreter.

In Britain, there are an estimated 13,000 victims of forced labour, sexual exploitation and domestic servitude, most of them from Albania, Nigeria, Poland and Vietnam.

Nearly 46 million people are enslaved globally, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index.

In 2015, Britain passed tough anti-slavery legislation introducing life sentences for traffickers and forcing companies to disclose what they are doing to ensure their supply chains are free from slavery.

Britain's Anti-Slavery Commissioner Kevin Hyland said more businesses should follow the supermarket's lead and offer "the dignity of work" to trafficking victims across the country.

"Good work opportunities give them dignity and allow them to be part of the community again. It prevents them from being re-trafficked, it prevents them from being homeless," said Hyland.

"If we don't improve the victims' support, it will hinder the whole fight against modern slavery."

Paul Gerrard, Co-op's policy and campaigns director, said British companies had a moral obligation to help victims and should go beyond what's legally required under the Modern Slavery Act.

"If we could offer these people work, it will allow them to reclaim their lives and that's the important thing," he added.

"... this should be about UK businesses stepping up and doing more to help victims of modern slavery."

CityHeart support worker Kirsty Hart said ordinary, paid work was transformative for many of the people she helped.

"It's just amazing to see the transformation of clients, before and after, and for them to take control of their lives. It's very powerful," she said.

This rings true for Janusz, who was trafficked from Poland but was given a job with the supermarket a month ago.

"My life has changed 100 per cent because the job gives me the prospect of a normal life in the UK," said Janusz, who did not want to give his full name or details of how he was trafficked.

"The job allows me to be independent. (It) offers me hope for the future."

See the article here:

Work gives trafficking victims dignity - NEWS.com.au

WASHINGTON House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-Va.) called on Republican congressional leaders to support a gradual federal minimum wage increase to $15 per hour by 2024.

That would give nearly 30 percent of Americans a raise and this has the support of 191 members of the House and Senate, Scott said at a news conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill to mark the eighth straight year without a minimum wage hike. Its $7.25 now. Were going all the way to $15.

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) said its wrong that eight years have gone by since the last time Congress voted to raise the minimum wage.

That doesnt make sense. Other people are getting raises. Other people are getting raises but people who are working hard, young people, older people, people with disabilities, this bill cuts across all of America, she said. Now is the time to raise the wage.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said he is proud of the raise the wage and fight for $15 activists fighting to push Congress to support a $15 starting wage for themselves and future workers.

We dont want to just be sticking with a minimum, right? We are just talking about starting people at $15 and then up from there, right? Up from there because do you want a minimum car? Do you want a minimum boat to float across the river? Do you want a minimum marriage? That means you all aint getting along too good, he said.

What Im saying is we want to start people there and then move up from there and go on to paid vacation, paid sick leave, paid family leave and have a real solid life for people who work hard every day, he added. You guys are making the movement. I cant wait to be there with you again. We are going to fight until we win.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) applauded the warrior activists for advocating in favor of a $15 living wage for every American.

CEOs are benefiting from the American Dream; why not workers who are working each and every day to make this country great? she asked. We need to be a nation of good-paying jobs with benefits and a living wage for each and every one of you.

While the struggle continues, Lee predicted that a $15 minimum wage would ultimately pass out of Congress.

We want a living wage. Workers deserve a living wage in America. Right now, it is unconscionable that in the wealthiest nation men and women are working full-time jobs and dont even earn a livable wage. That is a shame and a disgrace, she said.

Joseph Geevarghese, the director of Good Jobs Nation, said the Fight for 15 movement has always been about a $15 minimum wage and giving every American the right to form a union.

Read more here:

Restaurant Union Member: 'Tipping is a Horrific Legacy from the Days of Slavery' - PJ Media

By Leith van Onselen

Over recent months, several labour market experts have raised concerns about the proliferation of unpaid internships, which risked becoming a black market for slave labour.

Last month, the Turnbull Government controversially announced that it would expand its $750 million Youth-Jobs PaTH program to prepare, trial and ultimately hire young Australians into the retail sector, which garnered a strong push-back from the union movement, Labor and The Greens:

Up to 10,000 internships will be offered to unemployed youths over the next four years in a deal struck between the federal government and retail sector

They will get a start at a job and, you know what, they could go on to great heights, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Monday

The PaTH scheme (Prepare, Trial, Hire) offers young jobseekers $200 a fortnight on top of their income support payments to undertake internships, and gives employers a $1000 upfront payment for taking them on

But Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney said the program offered no path to qualification, employment or workforce protection.

This is a government-sanctioned program that actually borders on slavery, she told reporters in Melbourne.

If this does create new jobs, then pay the kids for the jobs. Pay them a wage. Theyre going to be productive. Theyre going to be contributing to the bottom line of these businesses

Labor and the Greens are opposed to the program, insisting it will allow young people to be exploited by employers.

If the PaTH program becomes simply a supply of cheap labour for employers who would otherwise be paying people full time wages to do that work, then thats a bad thing, deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek said.

Yesterday, it was revealed that the Australian Hotels Association has lined up to tap 10,000 internships over the next four years amid reports that only 200 young people have gotten jobs in the first four months of the Youth-Jobs PaTH program. And this has drawn another strong rebuke from the ACTU. From The Australian:

Since April 1, 7000 young people have commenced employability training, 1,015 internships have started, and 200 young people have gained employment.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash was forced today to defend the outcomes given the Government had promised up to 120,000 internships 30,000 a year over the life of the four year program.

Well, it was always up to 30,000, she told ABC radio.

She said the government had been absolutely delighted by the take-up since April.

We now have 200 of our young people who were, quite frankly, looking down the barrel of long-term welfare (who) have now gone through the program and are in employment, she said.

Senator Cash will join Malcolm Turnbull in Perth today to announce that the Australian Hotels Association will commit to establishing 10,000 internships over the next four years

Business taking on an intern will receive an upfront $1000 payment. The internship is between 15 and 25 hours a week across a period ranging from four to 12 weeks. Interns will receive $200 a fortnight from the government on top of their regular income support.

If the intern gets a job, the employer will receive a further payment of $6500 or $10,000

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said no business would employ someone on the minimum wage if they could get a worker for free.

This program is gifting young people to businesses, destroying jobs and not giving a single young person a useful skill or recognised qualification, she said.

Prime Minister Turnbull and Minister Cash are selling young peoples futures out from under them to shore up the votes of the business community.

Huge numbers of young people are already priced out of education and skills training because they cant find steady work and wages arent keeping pace with inflation. This program, which will tear the bottom of the labour market, is only going to make this dire situation worse.

MB noted similar concerns to the ACTU when PaTH was initially announced. That is, while the PaTH program may help at the margins, it wont do much to increase the overall supply of youth jobs and could also lead to employers substituting a regular employee for an intern, saving themselves money in the process.

Consider PaTH from an employers perspective. They will get a free kick as the Government is not only the one paying the intern, but the employer also receives $1,000 up front for employing the intern without the need to worry about sick days, annual leave or penalty rates. Then if the intern is offered a job, the employer receives another payment of $6500 or $10,000 from taxpayers!

Why would an employer hire a young worker on a casual basis when they can effectively get paid to take on an intern?

Indeed, the evidence on these types of programs shows that employers will generally substitute a worker receiving a wage subsidy for another worker who would otherwise have been hired.

[emailprotected]

Link:

Hotels line up to tap youth slaves - MacroBusiness (blog)

Conservatives may neglect Hollywood, but it retains the power to shock. Example: War for the Planet of the Apes depends on the moral rhetoric used by the Puritans and then Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. This is all about Exodus: God liberates the chosen people from bondage, and they attain the Promised Land. Appealing to Millennials while recalling the Boomers Sixties heyday, the rhetoric of civil rights is nowadays both on sale and on trial at the movies. And America emerges from them tarnished at best.

The Planet of the Apes story was originally a Sixties sci-fi allegory. It questioned our human nature, to humble our pride. It warned, Science will doom us. Proud American men, looking to discover the universe and the future in their spaceships, the very spearhead of the enterprise of modern science, discover a future worse than any past: a nature impervious to artificial powers. Apes enslaving humans, who are bereft of mind or speech: This allegory was part of the New Lefts politics and liberalisms holier-than-thou attitude. The question was slavery itself, and how would you like to be on the receiving end, white America!

Well, its dej vuall over again two generations later, with far more polish and more hysteria about science dooming us. This matters because Americans hold, or once held, their rights to come from Nature and their Creator. The goodness both of science and of man had divine sanction. From their nature, men could scientifically deduce their equal freedom and then strive to live well in light of that knowledge. They had natural rights, as we used to say. Science, natural and political, was supposed to help us secure them.

People changed their mind when they thought natural science proved that there was no human nature, or that it was nothing good or special. That is why the cinema of violence now dominating young Americans imagination forever rehearses the question Is life providential? Or cannibalistic? Does God defend us from the worst in ourselves and in our world? Or are we evil incessantly, from youth? Human nature looks so depressive at the movies because the meaning of science has changed.

For the Boomers, science meant both spaceships and atom bombs. Kennedy was sending Americans to the moon at the beginning of the Sixties! Confidence and power still pointed to something good and noble for mankind. But there were doubts: What if mans cosmic destiny was really the consequence of his self-destruction by the atom bomb? America had already used nuclear weaponry pressed by necessity, but in Kennedys time, America herself was threatened with Soviet missiles from Cuba. What would America do in case of a nuclear attack? America would launch rockets not to reach the moon but to render the earth uninhabitable. Gradually, the ambiguity of the rocket was resolved in favor of despair and fear: Think not Mars, but MAD.

Cold War hysteria about nuclear energy had the same origin. The atom bomb was a symbol. It spelled the end of the age when men would wage war in person, risking their own lives without risking the survival of all of mankind. The atom bomb rendered heroism or honorable war obsolete. But this would not lead to peace except, as the moral rhetoric of unconditional pacifism suggested, in death, and well deserved! With no more future for human beings, the movies went for a post-human future, in a desperate attempt to save some kind of life or morality from this scientific predicament.

Thats how we got to, among other things, the new Planet of the Apes movies, in which mankind is wiped out by a medical mistake a disease created by science. Scientific confidence becomes hubris, and mankind in his endeavor to conquer viruses defeats himself instead. The effort to build the most sophisticated power, immortality, out of the simplest life form, endlessly mutating viruses, turns out to ruin mans own complexity. Our fear of death, which drives medical advances, also turns to paranoia. At the movies, proud American men are not going back to the stars. Science for Millennials means biology, not physics, and it creates monsters as much as men. Scientific power no longer carries moral conviction for us, so we get the fantasies of self-destruction we deserve. At least we find them plausible: We would not keep showing up for such dark stories if we did not secretly fear that we were our own undoing.

But couldnt all this darkness be limited by the luminous part of the story civil rights and its Biblical rhetoric? The writer-director team say theyre looking to dignify their apes by giving them a founder: a Moses. Their movie really is Exodus redux, and its worth learning what has come of that once-proud feature of American political rhetoric. Only the movies make use of it anymore. Certainly no politician dares quote the old Biblical stories once considered part of Americas political imagination.

Blacks embraced Christianity in America and organized as Christians. They found the Old Testament an important source of hope and wisdom in the civil-rights struggle, which was a happy reprise of the theme of the chosen people, liberated from Egyptian slavery. As much as the adventure of scientific innovation is about individualism, the rhetoric of the chosen people is about community. So this should be a great occasion to tell both the particular story of liberation from Jim Crow and the broader story of Americas destiny. How come it all ends up tarnished? Something in this rewriting of civil-rights rhetoric is strange: God is absent.

Without God, mankind in this movie is left to plague itself. America is now Egypt. Man, not God, brought on the virus-plague that wiped out mankind. The only human ruler in this story plays a kind of Pharaoh, starting with the shaved-head, anti-natural aesthetic of Egypt and ending with his killing his son: the plague of the death of the firstborn. The hardening of hearts is here the loss of the power of speech. The afflicted can no longer communicate.

Meanwhile, the moral actors, the apes, are passively caught between warring human factions, witnesses to our species suicide. They only want to escape to the Promised Land, led by a Moses who has to learn to kill and to refrain from killing his utmost enemy, to save the lives of his kind and to die without entering the Promised Land. Even the swallowing of the armies of Pharaoh is reenacted, though without much cohesion to the plot.

But this Moses is without Commandments. In Exodus, he led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery by the long way, to avoid the land of the Philistines. That was his judgment on their character. But, Hollywood tells us, Were all Philistines now, and we pay the price: Not even our hero-apes can evolve from slavery to freedom. They just have a real-estate problem: The war could have been avoided had they been a few dozen miles from their arbitrarily determined current location. The apes have no new revelation; they confront no ancient threat. Their story lacks moral seriousness and the potential for high drama.

This leader should evoke MLK or Mandela, whose moral rhetoric was stentorian, all about delivering freedom to an oppressed people. Yet, in a show of breathtaking blindness to the very civil-rights rhetoric he evokes, the Moses figure in War of the Apes never gives one good speech. Apparently his peoples epic migration does not require intellectual effort to comprehend and express. These writers who play with Americas most dignified rhetoric about liberating slaves have nothing worth saying, having never reflected on American history in light of the very principles and precedents that Lincoln and MLK referred to. Having chosen to go down another path, they reveal to us, at the end of a long trilogy, a dead end. We have learned nothing new about human dignity, whatever we may have forgotten meanwhile.

Titus Techera is a Publius Fellow at the Claremont Institute, a contributor to Ricochet, and a writer at the Federalist.He is affiliated with the American Cinema Foundation.

Read more from the original source:

The Latest Planet of the Apes: The Exodus Story without God Is Bleak - National Review

Rogue employers who illegally underpay apprentices have been threatened with severe jail sentences, under a new government crackdown on abuses of workers rights.

Sir David Metcalf (pictured above), the governments new director of labour-market enforcement,today warned that the worst offenders could face prison sentences as long as two years.

The crackdown comes just days after FE Week reported that it was more than likely that no employer had ever been prosecuted or even fined for paying apprentices less the national minimum wage.

A much-delayed Department for Education survey released last week showed that 18 per cent of apprentices were paid illegal wages in 2016, up from 15 per cent in 2014.

Government inaction allowed employers to leave UK apprentices half a million pounds out of pocket in 2015-16 alone.

Tackling labour market abuses is an important priority for the government and I am encouraged it has committed record funds to cracking down on exploitation, said Sir David, who was appointed to the new position in January, in order to oversee a crackdown on workplace exploitation.

Over the coming months I will be working with government enforcement agencies and industry bodies to better identify and punish the most serious and repeat offenders taking advantage of vulnerable workers and honest businesses.

A Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy spokesperson confirmed to FE Week that this crackdown commitment would apply to employers who fail to pay apprentices at least the minimum wage of 3.50 per hour for anyone aged 24 or under.

The wider national minimum and living wage enforcement statistics show that in 2016-17, government teams managed to recoup a record 10.9 million in back pay for 98,150 of the UKs lowest-paid workers a 69 per cent increase on the previous year.

BEIS said businesses that failed to pay workers at least the legal minimum wage were also fined 3.9 million, with employers in hospitality and retail sectors among the most prolific offenders.

However, there have been just 13 prosecutions since 2007 for minimum wage violations, four of which came in 2016-17.

A BEIS press officer claimed to not have information on whether any of these related to underpaid apprentices.

Jon Richards, head of education at Unison, said his union has raised concerns about weak regulation of apprentices pay with government on a number of occasions.

He said that if this new crackdown is true and not further government spin, then it might make employers sit up and take notice.

Apprentices are already paid a pittance, so any employer trying to exploit them further deserves what they get, he added.

BEIS explained in February that from October 2013, the government revised the naming and shaming scheme to make it simpler to name and shame employers which break NMW law.

It identified a record 359 breaches that month alone, but continues to refuse to say whether any concerned apprentices.

Five months ago, BEIS announced that employers paying their workers less than the minimum wage could face prosecution, and not only have to pay back arrears of wages to the worker at current minimum wage rates, but also face financial penalties of up to 200 per cent of arrears, capped at 20,000 per worker.

Business minister Margot James claimed the government is firmly on the side of hard-working people and is determined to stamp out any workplace exploitation, from minimum wage abuses to modern slavery.

Sir David will start consulting with stakeholders from today, ahead of his first full strategy, due later this year. To contribute, you can email directorsoffice@lme.gsi.gov.uk

See the original post here:

Government's new crackdown on illegally low wages for apprentices - FE Week

Authorities are looking overseas for answers as they acknowledge human trafficking and exploitation are starting to become a much larger problem in New Zealand.

It's estimated that nearly 46 million people are living in conditions of slavery worldwide, nearly two thirds of the total in the Asia-Pacific region.

Trafficking, slavery and forced labour are also among the top three most profitable illegal enterprises - amounting to $US150 billion a year.

The Anglican church is co-hosting a conference with the government on the issue and said churches were increasingly becoming the first point of solace for victims.

Just last year a US report found New Zealand was a destination country for trafficked people, some of whom were exploited by employers and recruitment companies and forced into labour.

Labour Inspectorate general manager George Mason said worker exploitation was starting to become more common in New Zealand.

"It's important that the government's able to come together with business, with civil society, [and] with NGOs to deal with a problem which is actually manifesting in New Zealand whether we like to acknowledge that or not."

The most recent case was an Labour Inspectorate investigation that found at least half of Bay of Plenty kiwifruit contractors who had been audited failed to provide employment contracts or pay the minimum wage.

Employees in the hospitality and dairy farming industries have also been fined this year for breaches of employment rights, many involving migrant workers.

New Zealand also experienced its first human-trafficking conviction late last year where a man was found guilty of helping 16 Fijian workers enter the country illegally and not paying workers the minimum wage.

However it was hard to quantify how large the problem was, Mr Mason said.

"It's revealing itself through the work of the Labour Inspectorate and the industry itself is doing. We're only now getting our heads around the fact that it is here and we do have to deal with it.

"It's increasingly evident that in particular pockets it can be substantial, it's not really possible to put numbers around it, but it is definitely a problem that we have to address."

The British organisation Unseen played a major part in drafting and promoting the UK Modern Slavery Act that was introduced a few years ago.

Director Justine Currell said that's been an important step in her country's fight against trafficking and exploitation.

"What's important is to provide a real focus in terms of what we're talking about. So yes, there is legislation that New Zealand has already, but I think what we've found in the UK, by pulling all that legislation together, by calling it what it is, we've actually brought that focus."

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said the law in the United Kingdom meant organisations were legally required to show they had policies in place to prevent exploitation.

"I'd like to watch and see how it goes in the next year or two before taking any firm steps. I'm satisfied we've got a good number of things to prevent and prosecute exploitation already."

Excerpt from:

Human trafficking 'definitely a problem' in NZ - Radio New Zealand

Rogue employers who illegally underpay apprentices have been threatened with severe jail sentences, under a new government crackdown on abuses of workers rights.

Sir David Metcalf (pictured above), the governments new director of labour-market enforcement,today warned that the worst offenders could face prison sentences as long as two years.

The crackdown comes just days after FE Week reported that it was more than likely that no employer had ever been prosecuted or even fined for paying apprentices less the national minimum wage.

A much-delayed Department for Education survey released last week showed that 18 per cent of apprentices were paid illegal wages in 2016, up from 15 per cent in 2014.

Government inaction allowed employers to leave UK apprentices half a million pounds out of pocket in 2015-16 alone.

Tackling labour market abuses is an important priority for the government and I am encouraged it has committed record funds to cracking down on exploitation, said Sir David, who was appointed to the new position in January, in order to oversee a crackdown on workplace exploitation.

Over the coming months I will be working with government enforcement agencies and industry bodies to better identify and punish the most serious and repeat offenders taking advantage of vulnerable workers and honest businesses.

A Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy spokesperson confirmed to FE Week that this crackdown commitment would apply to employers who fail to pay apprentices at least the minimum wage of 3.50 per hour for anyone aged 24 or under.

The wider national minimum and living wage enforcement statistics show that in 2016-17, government teams managed to recoup a record 10.9 million in back pay for 98,150 of the UKs lowest-paid workers a 69 per cent increase on the previous year.

BEIS said businesses that failed to pay workers at least the legal minimum wage were also fined 3.9 million, with employers in hospitality and retail sectors among the most prolific offenders.

However, there have been just 13 prosecutions since 2007 for minimum wage violations, four of which came in 2016-17.

A BEIS press officer claimed to not have information on whether any of these related to underpaid apprentices.

Jon Richards, head of education at Unison, said his union has raised concerns about weak regulation of apprentices pay with government on a number of occasions.

He said that if this new crackdown is true and not further government spin, then it might make employers sit up and take notice.

Apprentices are already paid a pittance, so any employer trying to exploit them further deserves what they get, he added.

BEIS explained in February that from October 2013, the government revised the naming and shaming scheme to make it simpler to name and shame employers which break NMW law.

It identified a record 359 breaches that month alone, but continues to refuse to say whether any concerned apprentices.

Five months ago, BEIS announced that employers paying their workers less than the minimum wage could face prosecution, and not only have to pay back arrears of wages to the worker at current minimum wage rates, but also face financial penalties of up to 200 per cent of arrears, capped at 20,000 per worker.

Business minister Margot James claimed the government is firmly on the side of hard-working people and is determined to stamp out any workplace exploitation, from minimum wage abuses to modern slavery.

Sir David will start consulting with stakeholders from today, ahead of his first full strategy, due later this year. To contribute, you can email directorsoffice@lme.gsi.gov.uk

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Government's crackdown on illegal low wages for apprentices - FE Week

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