Two years ago, five Cook Island youths, all between ages 16 and 18, were brought to Australia on nonunion individual contracts to work for Manuel Puruto of Freliesma Guttering. Puruto promised them a better life, but instead worked the youths 12 hours a day, six days a week for $50 a month, the union reported in a factsheet it is distributing. The teenagers lived at Puruto’s house as virtual slave labor.

Sam Kautai, who was 17 when he arrived, worked for Puruto for 18 months and was allegedly beaten regularly, including with a hammer. He was left blind in one eye, partially deaf, and with a broken nose, jaw, and teeth.

“I had a good opportunity to come to Australia because I heard it was good money,” Kautai said, “The guy I was working for didn’t treat me well. He gave me a lot of damage on my body.”

The CFMEU is demanding A$90,000 (US$66,420) in back pay for Sam Kautai. CFMEU New South Wales Secretary Andrew Ferguson, quoted in the union factsheet, said, “Young workers and those who are vulnerable are being forced to sign individual Australian Workplace Agreements, leaving them open to abuse and exploitation.” He condemned the government for not investigating the brutalization of the five youths or the wages they are owed.

Sam’s mother, Atirua Kautai, has come to Australia with her husband to be with her son. She spoke at a March 2 union-organized protest against the government’s antiunion laws. The contractor “deserves to be put in prison,” she said in an interview. “There was no protection for my son or the other boys. We owe the union a big thanks.”

Manuel Puruto has now been charged by the Green Valley police with two counts of maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm.
 
 
Related articles:
On the Picket Line
Two-tiers become one in contracts, with lower wages for all  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home