This means that they may have four to five workers working for the price of one award-paid worker. Many Australian-born women in cities and rural areas also do home work for low wages. Most often, the ethnic groups involved are those of recently arrived immigrant and refugee groups. Currently, the main language groups are believed to be Vietnamese, Chinese, Khmer, Macedonian, Turkish and Arabic. Outworkers work for their families to survive.
Some income is better than none.
Industry groups, the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union and employers are working together to ensure the Homeworkers Code of Practice will help outworkers. The Code is designed to regulate the contracting chain from the retailer to the outworker, and enable home-based outworkers to receive an agreed wages rate, including loading for holidays. The Homeworkers Code of Practice won't solve all the problems in the industry, but it is a good start. The Clean Clothes Campaign and Homenet are also seeking international solutions. These global organisations are working to ensure that workers in every country sewing clothes are paid livable wages and are not subjected to unfair working conditions.