Hard Labour

A startling investigation of how some of Australia's best-known companies have abused their power to systematically underpay their workers in recent years.

Whether it's at McDonald's, Coles, 7-Eleven, Woolworths, the major banks, high-end restaurants, or on farms, wage theft has become endemic. Billions of dollars have been unlawfully taken from workers at countless businesses, large and small.

Hard Labour is an examination of why this has occurred and what it says about inequality and power in twenty-first century Australia. It tells the stories of individual workers, temporary migrants, and those without influence and connections. It also describes how many businesses — whether owned by private equity or wealthy families, or operating through tax havens or on the stock exchange — have structured themselves to avoid paying minimum wages.

Drawing on years of extensive research, economic data, and hundreds of interviews, Ben…