By Gurbir Singh:
Another case of alleged ‘exploitation’ of a vulnerable Indian student by an employer in New Zealand has come to light in Auckland yesterday.
Manjinder Singh, 23 who hails from the Gurdaspur district of Punjab, has claimed $80,000 in ‘unpaid wages’ from his employer, Nikhil Himalaya Parkland Ltd (trading as ‘Bottle-O’), whose director is Ravinder Arora. The company is said to own and run over 20 liquor stores in New Zealand, with at least 5 in Auckland.
Yesterday evening, a small group of Unite Union members and Manjinder’s sympathisers, gathered to protest outside the shop in Pt Chevalier, Auckland where he earlier worked. There was a heated exchange of words between the two parties outside the shop, when the store denied that any wages were due to Manjinder.
In the telephonic interview with this journalist today, Manjinder claimed he worked for at least 60 hours a week for nearly three years, but was paid only for half the hours he worked.
Manjinder said, “I came to New Zealand in February 2014 on a student visa to study business, and while studying, I started working part-time at this liquor store. For the first two months even though I worked full-time hours, I was not paid anything as the employer said it was a trial period and you don’t get paid”.
“In September last year (2016) when I received my work visa, I was given a full-time contract of 30 hours at an hourly rate of $17. But I was made to work over 60 hours per week, but received wages for only 30 hours – $432.51 a week after tax.
Manjinder finally left the job about six weeks ago after his request for leave for a trip to India was declined.
“For all the hours that I worked, my average wage comes to just $7 per hour, whereas the minimum wage today is $ 15.75. So, I have been out of pocket by nearly $100,000 for the three years that I have worked for this owner.”
During this interview, Manjinder alleged that in one of the meetings, Arora “agreed” to pay him $80,000, but has now “backed out”. He also claimed to have a secret audio recording of this conversation.
– from NewsViews
