Unions NSW reports widespread sexual harassment of migrant women

Migrant women workers are suffering shocking levels of sexual harassment across multiple industries in Australia, a new survey suggests.

Gabriela, not her real name, says she was sexually harassed four times while in the country on a working holiday visa.

In an interview with Unions NSW, she said in one instance she was working as a cleaner on a construction site when her immediate supervisor, also the company owner, started to make comments about her appearance and then touched her backside and tried to kiss her.

Gabriela is one of 3000 migrant women surveyed by the union to gauge levels of workplace sexual harassment nationwide.

The results suggest pervasive predatory behaviour.

In construction, 82 per cent of migrant women experienced sexual harassment, while 53 per cent of workers suffered harassment in horticulture, 51 per cent in hospitality, 50 per cent in retail and 41 per cent in cleaning.

Harassment levels could also be more widespread, with 75 per cent of women stating they had not reported harassment out of fear of losing their jobs, employer retaliation or negative impacts on their visa status.

The survey said the most common form of harassment was sexually suggestive comments or jokes at 52 per cent, followed by intrusive questions about private life or physical appearance at 42 per cent.

Repeated or inappropriate invitations to go on dates accounted for 28 per cent of harassment, unwelcome touching, hugging, kissing or invasion of space accounted for 23 per cent, inappropriate staring or leering for 24 per cent and inappropriate physical contact made up 20 per cent of harassment incidents.

Some women experienced multiple forms of harassment.

Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey called the findings “reprehensible”.

“Migrants come to Australia to seek opportunity but are instead confronted by horrific workplace exploitation,” he said.

“Migrant women are facing sexually suggestive comments, intrusive questions, unwelcome touching and inappropriate physical contact. This is reprehensible. It has to stop.”

To roll back harassment, the union wants the federal government to establish migrant worker centres to support women with legal advice and to encourage them to report harassment.

It is also calling for the removal of visa conditions that put workers in what they call “vulnerable positions”, including the 88-day farm work requirement.

The requirement forces workers on holiday visas to spend at least three months working on farms in regional areas to extend their stay for another year and delivers a key pool of labour for the labour-intensive horticultural industry.

“The practical reality is that most end up picking fruit and are reluctant to leave exploitative employers for fear of breaching their visa conditions and having their visa cancelled,” Mr Morey said.

“This places them in a vulnerable position and leaves them prey to exploitation and abuse which has been documented time and time again.

“This provision must be abolished if we are to see an improvement in the treatment of workers in the horticulture industry.”

National Farmers Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said there was “absolutely no place” in horticulture for people who did “the wrong thing”.

“We hope given the seriousness of the allegations being made, the union validated each response and helped these workers report their concerns to the proper authorities,” he told NewsWire.

“Every single worker deserves has the right to a safe and supportive work environment and any wrongdoing should be reported immediately.”

Mr Mahar defended the working holiday-maker program and noted the survey results suggested the mistreatment of migrant women was not an issue unique to horticulture.

“Those industries identified in this report with the highest reported rates of workplace sexual harassment are not part of the working holiday-maker program,” he said.

“This and other similar reports fail to identify the strength of the causal link, if any, that exists between the 88 days of specified work and worker mistreatment or harassment.”

He said the program delivered a critical workforce to regional communities and industries that might otherwise find it hard to fill vacancies.

“Backpackers are a critical workforce to regional Australia and play a key role in helping farmers to provide safe, fresh and affordable food,” he said.

“It’s estimated removing this workforce would cost the horticulture sector alone $6.3bn and 127,000 jobs would be lost along the supply chain.”

He also said the program was popular with backpackers.

“There are thousands of backpackers who love their time on farm and go home to become ambassadors for Australia,” he said.