CWU shines spotlight on Post's major contractor underpaying workers and running immigration racket
The CWU has shone a spotlight on Australia Post’s contractors who are underpaying workers and illegally employing foreign students.
This week one of Australia Post’s main suppliers of contract posties and parcel deliverers was arrested and accused of running an immigration racket.
The arrest followed pre-dawn raids involving 100 officers from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Border Force officers on Australia Post delivery centres, homes and businesses across Melbourne.
Baljit ‘Bobby’ Singh and two of his associates, Mukesh Sharma and Rakesh Kumar, are in custody following the raids.
The AFP alleges training colleges owned by Singh, Kumar, and Sharma are not providing education, but are being used to source student visas for Indian students who then go to work as posties and parcel deliverers for Australia Post through Singh's labour hire companies.
Mr Singh's Australia Post business has been very profitable. The ABC’s 7.30 obtained internal Australia Post spreadsheets which show from just one quarter of his delivery contracts, his company Oz Trade and Services is paid around $60,000 a month by Australia Post.
Police also seized $8.5 million worth of assets, including a 2014 Ferrari, a 2015 Range Rover, six properties and $180,000 in cash.
This is a wakeup call said the CWU. Surely the minister has to call the management of Australia Post to account. The fact that an alleged criminal outfit is providing labour to deliver Australia's parcels and letters must shock the community.
