Truly the meme gender. 4 hours of work a day????
Dear god someone contact the human rights groups
A British backpacker in Australia has claimed she was treated like a ‘slave’ while picking fruit for four hours a day in Australia. Stephanie Banasko, 25, had been trying to extend her visa for a second year by working at the Farmgate Backpackers in Childers, Queensland. But the blogger, who travelled to Australia to escape her ‘nine to five bulls*** life’, summed up her experience by saying she was ’88-days a slave’. She claims she was told she would be paid hourly for her labour, but had already flown to the farm when she discovered her income would rely on how much fruit she picked.
Ms Banasko said: ‘It’s waking up at the crack of dawn, hard graft, long hours and ruthlessly repetitive [work] which is mentally draining.
‘I travelled all that way from Sydney and spent most of my savings, and the farm told me that when I would arrive I would have an hourly paid job. ‘I had already flown there, when they sent me an email saying that the hourly paid job was not available yet, and that they would be putting me on a piece rate job. ‘There are so many factors that can affect your pay. It can be dependent on the quality of the fruit you pick from the tree and even if the manager likes you or not. ‘They might come over and look at your bin and not be happy, then you’d have to start all over again.’ Ms Banasko also claimed she paid £126 a week ‘for the luxury of sharing a kitchen with 100 people, a room with three others that’s not big enough to swing a cat in, bathrooms so dirty you feel cleaner before you shower and the pleasure of having cockroaches and mice as dinner dates.’
She believes the management knows how ‘desperate’ backpackers are for agricultural work and so has advantage of them by giving out poor paying jobs. Ms Banasko also claimed that she was sacked without warning. Farmgate Backpackers has denied her claims of mistreatment, stating that ’99 per cent’ of backpackers happily return to the hostel. They also emphasised that they could not always promise farm work as a result of the unpredictable weather.
Dear god someone contact the human rights groups
A British backpacker in Australia has claimed she was treated like a ‘slave’ while picking fruit for four hours a day in Australia. Stephanie Banasko, 25, had been trying to extend her visa for a second year by working at the Farmgate Backpackers in Childers, Queensland. But the blogger, who travelled to Australia to escape her ‘nine to five bulls*** life’, summed up her experience by saying she was ’88-days a slave’. She claims she was told she would be paid hourly for her labour, but had already flown to the farm when she discovered her income would rely on how much fruit she picked.
Ms Banasko said: ‘It’s waking up at the crack of dawn, hard graft, long hours and ruthlessly repetitive [work] which is mentally draining.
‘I travelled all that way from Sydney and spent most of my savings, and the farm told me that when I would arrive I would have an hourly paid job. ‘I had already flown there, when they sent me an email saying that the hourly paid job was not available yet, and that they would be putting me on a piece rate job. ‘There are so many factors that can affect your pay. It can be dependent on the quality of the fruit you pick from the tree and even if the manager likes you or not. ‘They might come over and look at your bin and not be happy, then you’d have to start all over again.’ Ms Banasko also claimed she paid £126 a week ‘for the luxury of sharing a kitchen with 100 people, a room with three others that’s not big enough to swing a cat in, bathrooms so dirty you feel cleaner before you shower and the pleasure of having cockroaches and mice as dinner dates.’
She believes the management knows how ‘desperate’ backpackers are for agricultural work and so has advantage of them by giving out poor paying jobs. Ms Banasko also claimed that she was sacked without warning. Farmgate Backpackers has denied her claims of mistreatment, stating that ’99 per cent’ of backpackers happily return to the hostel. They also emphasised that they could not always promise farm work as a result of the unpredictable weather.
Last edited:
