The entrance to a Woolworths store is pictured in a shopping mall in Johannesburg
IN PHOTO: The entrance to a Woolworths store is pictured in a shopping mall in Johannesburg June 19, 2014. Australian department store operator David Jones Ltd said it will postpone a shareholder vote on a $2 billion takeover bid from South Africa's Woolworths Holdings Ltd until mid-July after Australian billionaire Solomon Lew said he had acquired a 9.89 percent stake in the target. Reuters/Rogan Ward

Evidence has been unearthed that Australian farms which supply to some of the biggest supermarket chains are having harrowing conditions. The plight of workers is evident in gross underpayment of wages with potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen pay going missing annually.

As per a Four Corners probe, the food being packed by exploited workers is being sold to consumers nationwide via supermarkets like Coles, Aldi, Woolworths, Costco and IGA. Workers from Europe and Asia are being abused and assaulted consistently. Not only this, but women are also paying the brunt of the same by being forced to be sexually enslaved and asked to perform such favours in exchange for visas.

The abuse which involves organized syndicates is extensive. Fast food outlets KFC and Red Rooster are also implicated. With some of the biggest brand names yet to be named, a wide variety of vegetables and poultry product farms are set to be the ones where exploitation is rampant.

It has also been reported that devious labour hire contractors are running a scam, groups of swindling intermediaries who sell groups of cut-price migrant workers to farms and factories, producing fresh food throughout the nation. The migrant workers arrive legally in Australia on 417 working holiday visas that permits them to travel and work for up to six months per location. They have low-skilled jobs there such as fruit and vegetable picking or working in meat and poultry factories in regional locations and some cities.

Dr Joanna Howe, a senior lecturer with the University of Adelaide Law School, has remarked that Australia’s global image had suffered a serious setback due to the 417 visa system which is reeking with corruption. "We will be known as a country that exploits vulnerable people who are looking for a better chance at life. We would never accept this if it were Australian workers being treated in this way, but because it's 417 visa holders and we don't know them, there's a lid on it, we accept that it's OK. You know we just turn a blind eye."

Meanwhile politicians have been calling for reforms imperatively to Australia's fresh food supply chain. There are calls at a federal level for supermarkets to start taking responsibility for all their actions.

The writer can be contacted at ritambanati@yahoo.com

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