June 29, 2025 • 20 mins
Many of us most likely spent the weekend catching up with friends, at our local pub or favourite restaurant. It’s unlikely we turned our attention to those preparing our meals, hidden in the kitchen, chefs who may be on their 14th hour, burnt out and very far from home.
Some of those chefs, former staff at lavish Merivale venues across Sydney, are now sharing their story, and the at times darker reality of their work.
Today, Good Food reporter Bianca Hrovat and investigative reporter Eryk Bagshaw.
And just a note, lawyers for Merivale have denied the allegations raised in this episode. You’ll find their response at the end.
Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:01):
From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
This is the morning edition. I'm Julia Katzel, filling in
for Samantha Selinger. Morris. It's Monday, June 30th. Many of
us most likely spent the weekend catching up with friends
at our local pub or favorite restaurant. It's unlikely we
(00:21):
turned our attention to those preparing our meals hidden in
the kitchen. Chefs who may be on their 14th hour,
burnt out and very far from home. Some of those chefs,
former staff at lavish Merivale venues across Sydney are now
sharing their story and the at times darker reality of
(00:42):
their work today. Good food reporter Bianca Herawati and investigative
reporter Eric Bagshaw. And just a note lawyers for Merivale
have denied the allegations raised in this episode. You'll find
their response at the end. Bianca and Eric, welcome to
(01:05):
the Morning Edition.
S2 (01:06):
Thank you for having us. Great to be with you, Julia.
S1 (01:08):
Now you've both been reporting on allegations of sexual harassment
and exploitation in Australia's hospitality industry for the past year,
incidents that have allegedly taken place at Merivale venues or
involving their staff. And your reporting has encouraged more to
speak out. So I wanted to ask you about that
new community. And that story starts in Mexico. So can
(01:31):
you take us there, Bianca?
S3 (01:33):
Yeah. So I suppose our story starts in about 2017,
when Merivale sought to fill a industry wide skill shortage
by going to Mexico with a Texas based recruitment company
called Alliance Abroad International. And basically what they did is
they sent some of their chefs over there, like Dan
Hong from Mr. Wong's, and recruited several dozen chefs from
(01:55):
Mexico City through a series of kitchen trials and information sessions,
all of which painted Maryville to be this very glamorous company,
you know, in Australia, that would help them have a
better life here.
S2 (02:08):
It's a really big problem, I guess, for hospitality companies
in Australia, in that there is a skill shortage and
there's simply aren't enough Australians to do the jobs. In
Maryville's case, they've got 5000 employees, you know, probably need
more chefs than any other company in the country. And
so clearly, when you're that, um, you know, desperate for
(02:30):
more workers, you do some, some pretty out there things.
S1 (02:34):
And from the chef side of things, what are they
being sold? What are they being told about Australia and
their life there?
S3 (02:40):
Well, for many of the chefs we spoke to, they
were from parts of Mexico where living conditions weren't great.
They were from a lot of cartel controlled areas where
they were subject to a lot of violence. Some in
some cases, it even affected their families personally. So for them,
Australia and working for Merivale represented a better life, a
(03:01):
safer life, a better life for their family. And that was,
you know, an opportunity they didn't want to pass up.
But it also meant for some chefs that had really
incredible fine dining backgrounds in restaurants in Mexico City. You know,
it meant for them an opportunity to advance their career,
you know, on the global stage and come to Australia
and work in these really modern kitchens that, you know,
(03:23):
had millions of dollars spent on them.
S1 (03:26):
Okay. But when these chefs did arrive in Australia, life
was quite different to the dream that they'd been sold,
wasn't it, Eric?
S2 (03:33):
They certainly expected all the glamorous staff parties, Sydney Harbour,
life at the beach, Kangaroos, all of the different images
of Australia that Merivale and Alliance Abroad really sold them
about their future here. But the reality was very different
when they arrived. They would be put up in a
hostel for a couple of nights, have to sleep in
(03:55):
ten bed dorms. Another chef slept in a three by
three in a two bedroom apartment with six other Mexican
migrant chefs and struggled the the hours, the conditions, the
sense of discrimination, I think really started to to hit
(04:17):
home early on, leaving some of them questioning really whether
they had done the right thing at all.
S1 (04:22):
And part of that was this contract that they signed
with Alliance Abroad, which was apparently four times the amount
of a normal price for a skilled visa for a chef.
Can you go into that a bit?
S2 (04:34):
The contract was worth about 8,500 USD, so that's $13,000
Australian or so in today's terms. And they had to
sign this contract with Alliance Abroad. That effectively gave them
the power to garnishee that money back out of their
wages from Maryvale. So alliance abroad is not really paying
(04:57):
for any of the relocation. They are only paying for
a visa and a couple of nights accommodation, and then
the rest of it was borne by the chefs, including flights.
And so it's very difficult to reconcile how this contract
that they had to sign for $13,000 somehow gives them
(05:19):
a visa that's really only worth about 3500 dollars, and
that's it. And then for the first year of their
working in Australia, they have to pay that money back.
And these are chefs who are coming in, starting on
relatively low wages and struggling to make ends meet. And
(05:40):
still Maryvale was not prepared to cover the costs of
anything really. And in fact, Alliance Abroad seems to have
made money out of their visas and other accommodation costs.
S1 (05:55):
And, Bianca, can you tell me more about the conditions
in the actual venues and their kitchens? And what a
kind of day in the life would be for some
of these workers.
S3 (06:05):
So it was a very, very high pressure environment in
a lot of these kitchens. There was a lot of shouting,
a lot of bullying, a lot of racist remarks. And
I think the thing that compounded it all was the
incredibly long hours without any paid overtime. So some of
the chefs that we spoke to said they were working,
you know, regularly over 60 hours a week. Some, you know,
(06:28):
up to 68 was probably the longest we'd heard.
S4 (06:34):
Do you ever feel exploited by the company?
S5 (06:38):
Um, I mean, probably in context, yeah. There's some some
amount of exploitation. Personally, I'm happy here. I'm glad I'm here.
S4 (06:50):
Hmm.
S5 (06:51):
What might. My biggest complaint is, is they would have
told me, hey, we're gonna treat you like shit. We're
gonna give you shit. But in five, six years, you're
gonna become a citizen of this beautiful country. Fuck it.
I'll take it. Talk to me like a man. Talk
to me like a human. Sorry. Excuse me. Straightforward. Cool.
I'm having it. I'm down to clown. But the way
(07:12):
they delivered this, it's. It was not like that. It's
just fucking smokescreens and falsehoods and make believe.
S3 (07:22):
One woman described, you know, working at Mr. Wong's. A
usual day would be getting there at 1030 in the morning,
working until about five, breaking for an hour or two,
and then going back to work until 2 a.m.. And
she talked about how they would be so exhausted in
between these shifts that you would go into the Mr.
Wong's break room and people would just be sleeping there
(07:43):
side by side, you know, desperately trying to get some
shut eye.
S2 (07:47):
And this is one of Sydney's most prestigious and well-known restaurants,
and I think diners would be shocked to know what's
going on behind the scenes there, that these chefs felt
so poorly treated. They had just come from an area
in which their lives were at risk through cartel violence.
(08:08):
And to be put in those conditions for a company
that spends two times as much as any other company
on Fitouts only to treat its staff so poorly.
S3 (08:21):
And that's not to mention the staff that we spoke
to that had to continue working through injury. You know,
one person said they could barely walk, but they were
called to come in and sort of stand behind a
barbecue for a full shift. Another person had a broken
bone and was just expected to keep working as normal.
And these are people that had medical certificates and they
(08:43):
were just told, well, you seem fine. Might as well
keep on with it.
S1 (08:48):
Yeah, it is quite horrific to imagine. And yes, you
definitely wouldn't imagine that taking place at a lavish venue
in Sydney on a Friday night. You wouldn't even fathom
that was going on. But there was a turning point
in 2019, when hundreds of staff filed a class action
lawsuit against Merivale, which the company agreed to settle last
year for $19 million without admitting fault. But many migrant
(09:12):
workers actually declined to sign on to that lawsuit. Why
was that, Eric?
S2 (09:17):
They're in fear. They're worried that their visas would be
put at risk if they signed up to a class
action lawsuit that would give them access to restitution for
money that they are owed at the end of the day.
Merivale has this power over staff because it has power
over their visas, and it knows this, and it employs
(09:41):
people in these conditions precisely for that reason. A worker
who is reliant on a visa to stay in Australia
is very unlikely to complain, and the end result are
dozens of deeply unhappy workers who are toiling away just
in the hope that they can make it through to
(10:03):
finally not just have their sponsorship, but eventually permanent residency
so that they can leave Maryvale.
S1 (10:10):
And I did want to ask about this, because you
have those racing towards this golden ticket of permanent residency.
It kind of resulted in quite a unique working environment.
Can you tell me more about that, Bianca?
S3 (10:22):
Yeah. So in Maryvale, it was the chefs that managed
to be promoted to the position of sous chef or
head chef that ended up getting permanent residency. And there's
only a limited number of those positions available. So that
ends up creating a very competitive environment. One chef described
it as an absolute dog fight. So, you know, they
would all sort of be clamouring for this position of
(10:45):
dominance over each other, you know, shouting, bullying each other.
It was sort of like a dog eat dog situation.
S1 (10:52):
And it's this disparity which you both point out between
the wealth of this multibillion dollar empire and the alleged
crumbs it's paying its workers. So what do you make
of that?
S2 (11:02):
I think it's scale and greed at the end of
the day. Companies that are worth billions of dollars only
get there through squeezing every penny. And that comes at
the cost of people. You know, I think Merivale would
say that it does also host, you know, generous staff parties.
(11:25):
It has giveaways. It has all these fabulous events that
are designed to boost morale. But at the end of
the day, the actual pay packets of people are so
tight that that they're struggling to get by. And if
they are getting by Some of them are earning just
(11:47):
over the national hourly minimum wage while working double the
national average hours. So, for example, if you're on a
contract that's worth just over the award of $78,000 a year,
the key distinction is that those overtime rates only apply
(12:07):
if you work a sixth or seventh day in a row.
So what the company does is squeeze as many hours
as humanly possible into five days, and you have chefs
working 14 hour shifts. The cumulative result of all of
that is that you have chefs working 68 hours sometimes,
(12:31):
and basically earning just over $25 an hour. And the
company is run by Justin Hemmes. He's on The Australian
Financial Review's Rich list. He has a mansion that might
(12:52):
well be the most expensive home in Australia, the Hermitage worth.
Analysts say almost $200 million. Now he has created this
empire out of Merivale, which started decades ago as a
department store and transformed it into a hospitality empire. And
(13:15):
despite all of his personal wealth, his company has implemented
policies that we now know because of. Internal documents show
that Merivale is still squeezing its workers by implementing strategies
to make sure that the maximum amount of hours worked
(13:36):
are squeezed into those five days.
S3 (13:38):
Yeah, and it does have a big impact on them.
They were the chefs from Hotel Paddington that spoke to
us about, you know, working 16 hour shifts and being
so exhausted. They would just sit on these milk crates
afterwards and stare at each other silently, downing jug after
jug of beer just to go home, sleep for four hours,
come back and do it all again. They said they
(13:59):
developed a massive drinking and drug abuse problems during those periods.
S1 (14:08):
We'll be right back. And so what did happen to
some of those people you spoke to? Did they leave
the company? Are they okay now?
S3 (14:23):
Well, most of the people I spoke with have since
left the company. Some of them left pretty early on
and found other people to sponsor them. Some returned home
to Mexico and others stuck it out for the full
four years, gained permanent residency with Maryvale and then usually
left within the year. In all of the cases, though,
(14:43):
they're a lot happier now. You know, every other workplace
they've been since, they say it's just night and day.
S2 (14:50):
As one of the chefs said, it sounded like a dream,
but it turned out to be a nightmare. And I
think that's really, you know, typifies the experience of so
many of these chefs that have worked in Maryvale kitchens.
But Bianca has also found out new information about the
next plans for Alliance abroad.
S3 (15:12):
Yes. So Lance abroad contacted the candidates from the 2017
2018 recruitment drive and asked them for their testimonies so
that they can use them to recruit more chefs from
Mexico for Maryvale. I'm presuming later this year or maybe
next year.
S1 (15:28):
Wow.
S3 (15:29):
Yeah.
S1 (15:30):
Well, just on that note, the entire hospitality industry in Australia,
it seems, is facing a reckoning at the moment. Not
just in Sydney, not just at Maryvale. You've reported on
swill House. We've seen, for instance, earlier this month the
outburst of a top chef in Melbourne. So where is
all the accountability in all of this? Are we seeing
any changes since your first reports last year?
S2 (15:53):
Well, I think the companies would say that they've implemented
new safety protocols. Swill House, which had once had one
part time air advisor for a company of 500 employees,
now has someone who is full time. They have put
in other measures to make sure that staff are aware
of of their responsibilities, and that managers are on the
(16:16):
lookout for any sort of unsafe behaviour. The company's response
has very much always been reactive. It's only once the
allegations are published that companies go, oh boy, we might
have a problem here. And then they implement measures. And
that is a good result. You know that they are
actually taking steps and that staff working within those venues
(16:39):
might turn around and go, oh, actually, maybe that isn't okay.
And they're more aware of some of the situations that
they're putting himself in. The government's actively investigating Safework. New
South Wales is still investigating both Maryvale and Swill House.
We've heard from the New South Wales Upper House inquiries
into licensing and potential licensing breaches for those companies. It's
(17:03):
basically a multi-pronged approach, and they've just passed changes to
RSA rules to make sure that all bar staff starting
work in New South Wales have to go through mandatory
sexual harassment training. So that's been a big development in
(17:23):
the in that space. But I think the economics of
the industry, which is fundamentally thousands of young, vulnerable workers,
whether they're Australian or whether they're migrants, are entering an
industry which is absolutely ripe for exploitation. And it is
(17:46):
our job, I think, to give voices to those who
feel like they can't speak up themselves and that they
may have no power in the face of these very
large companies. And I think that's been a big part
of what we've spent the last year doing. And I
would hope that the industry is better for it.
S3 (18:05):
We can only hope.
S1 (18:11):
Well, Eric and Bianca, this is, of course, just one
part of your investigation out this week. You've also covered
the Hermes property empire and notable VIPs at Merivale venues,
including high profile politicians and even criminals. And listeners can
find those stories on our website. So thank you again
both for your time today.
S6 (18:31):
Thank you.
S2 (18:32):
Thanks, Julia.
S1 (18:43):
Maryville responded to questions from our mastheads after recording this podcast.
Lawyers for Maryville have denied all of the allegations against it.
They denied the company targeted migrant workers, stating the allegation
was baseless and offensive. Lawyers acting for Maryville also denied
allegations of racial discrimination, said the company vigorously denied underpaying
(19:06):
its staff and maintained the claims were false. Maryville said
employees receive the pay that meets or exceeds the relevant
award entitlements. Lawyers for Maryville also refuted claims of uncleanliness,
noting Maryville venues are subjected to regular inspections and contracted
(19:27):
professional cleaning services. Today's episode of The Morning Edition was
produced by Josh towers, with technical assistance from Taylor Dent.
Our executive producer is Tammy Mills. Tom McKendrick is our
(19:47):
head of audio. To listen to our episodes as soon
as they drop, follow the Morning Edition on Apple, Spotify,
or wherever you listen to podcasts. Our newsrooms are powered
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or smh.com.au. And to stay up to date. Sign up
(20:10):
for our Morning Edition newsletter to receive a summary of
the day's most important news in your inbox every morning.
Links are in the show. Notes. I'm Julia Katzel. This
is the morning edition. Thanks for listening.
From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
This is the morning edition. I'm Julia Katzel, filling in
for Samantha Selinger. Morris. It's Monday, June 30th. Many of
us most likely spent the weekend catching up with friends
at our local pub or favorite restaurant. It's unlikely we
(00:21):
turned our attention to those preparing our meals hidden in
the kitchen. Chefs who may be on their 14th hour,
burnt out and very far from home. Some of those chefs,
former staff at lavish Merivale venues across Sydney are now
sharing their story and the at times darker reality of
(00:42):
their work today. Good food reporter Bianca Herawati and investigative
reporter Eric Bagshaw. And just a note lawyers for Merivale
have denied the allegations raised in this episode. You'll find
their response at the end. Bianca and Eric, welcome to
(01:05):
the Morning Edition.
S2 (01:06):
Thank you for having us. Great to be with you, Julia.
S1 (01:08):
Now you've both been reporting on allegations of sexual harassment
and exploitation in Australia's hospitality industry for the past year,
incidents that have allegedly taken place at Merivale venues or
involving their staff. And your reporting has encouraged more to
speak out. So I wanted to ask you about that
new community. And that story starts in Mexico. So can
(01:31):
you take us there, Bianca?
S3 (01:33):
Yeah. So I suppose our story starts in about 2017,
when Merivale sought to fill a industry wide skill shortage
by going to Mexico with a Texas based recruitment company
called Alliance Abroad International. And basically what they did is
they sent some of their chefs over there, like Dan
Hong from Mr. Wong's, and recruited several dozen chefs from
(01:55):
Mexico City through a series of kitchen trials and information sessions,
all of which painted Maryville to be this very glamorous company,
you know, in Australia, that would help them have a
better life here.
S2 (02:08):
It's a really big problem, I guess, for hospitality companies
in Australia, in that there is a skill shortage and
there's simply aren't enough Australians to do the jobs. In
Maryville's case, they've got 5000 employees, you know, probably need
more chefs than any other company in the country. And
so clearly, when you're that, um, you know, desperate for
(02:30):
more workers, you do some, some pretty out there things.
S1 (02:34):
And from the chef side of things, what are they
being sold? What are they being told about Australia and
their life there?
S3 (02:40):
Well, for many of the chefs we spoke to, they
were from parts of Mexico where living conditions weren't great.
They were from a lot of cartel controlled areas where
they were subject to a lot of violence. Some in
some cases, it even affected their families personally. So for them,
Australia and working for Merivale represented a better life, a
(03:01):
safer life, a better life for their family. And that was,
you know, an opportunity they didn't want to pass up.
But it also meant for some chefs that had really
incredible fine dining backgrounds in restaurants in Mexico City. You know,
it meant for them an opportunity to advance their career,
you know, on the global stage and come to Australia
and work in these really modern kitchens that, you know,
(03:23):
had millions of dollars spent on them.
S1 (03:26):
Okay. But when these chefs did arrive in Australia, life
was quite different to the dream that they'd been sold,
wasn't it, Eric?
S2 (03:33):
They certainly expected all the glamorous staff parties, Sydney Harbour,
life at the beach, Kangaroos, all of the different images
of Australia that Merivale and Alliance Abroad really sold them
about their future here. But the reality was very different
when they arrived. They would be put up in a
hostel for a couple of nights, have to sleep in
(03:55):
ten bed dorms. Another chef slept in a three by
three in a two bedroom apartment with six other Mexican
migrant chefs and struggled the the hours, the conditions, the
sense of discrimination, I think really started to to hit
(04:17):
home early on, leaving some of them questioning really whether
they had done the right thing at all.
S1 (04:22):
And part of that was this contract that they signed
with Alliance Abroad, which was apparently four times the amount
of a normal price for a skilled visa for a chef.
Can you go into that a bit?
S2 (04:34):
The contract was worth about 8,500 USD, so that's $13,000
Australian or so in today's terms. And they had to
sign this contract with Alliance Abroad. That effectively gave them
the power to garnishee that money back out of their
wages from Maryvale. So alliance abroad is not really paying
(04:57):
for any of the relocation. They are only paying for
a visa and a couple of nights accommodation, and then
the rest of it was borne by the chefs, including flights.
And so it's very difficult to reconcile how this contract
that they had to sign for $13,000 somehow gives them
(05:19):
a visa that's really only worth about 3500 dollars, and
that's it. And then for the first year of their
working in Australia, they have to pay that money back.
And these are chefs who are coming in, starting on
relatively low wages and struggling to make ends meet. And
(05:40):
still Maryvale was not prepared to cover the costs of
anything really. And in fact, Alliance Abroad seems to have
made money out of their visas and other accommodation costs.
S1 (05:55):
And, Bianca, can you tell me more about the conditions
in the actual venues and their kitchens? And what a
kind of day in the life would be for some
of these workers.
S3 (06:05):
So it was a very, very high pressure environment in
a lot of these kitchens. There was a lot of shouting,
a lot of bullying, a lot of racist remarks. And
I think the thing that compounded it all was the
incredibly long hours without any paid overtime. So some of
the chefs that we spoke to said they were working,
you know, regularly over 60 hours a week. Some, you know,
(06:28):
up to 68 was probably the longest we'd heard.
S4 (06:34):
Do you ever feel exploited by the company?
S5 (06:38):
Um, I mean, probably in context, yeah. There's some some
amount of exploitation. Personally, I'm happy here. I'm glad I'm here.
S4 (06:50):
Hmm.
S5 (06:51):
What might. My biggest complaint is, is they would have
told me, hey, we're gonna treat you like shit. We're
gonna give you shit. But in five, six years, you're
gonna become a citizen of this beautiful country. Fuck it.
I'll take it. Talk to me like a man. Talk
to me like a human. Sorry. Excuse me. Straightforward. Cool.
I'm having it. I'm down to clown. But the way
(07:12):
they delivered this, it's. It was not like that. It's
just fucking smokescreens and falsehoods and make believe.
S3 (07:22):
One woman described, you know, working at Mr. Wong's. A
usual day would be getting there at 1030 in the morning,
working until about five, breaking for an hour or two,
and then going back to work until 2 a.m.. And
she talked about how they would be so exhausted in
between these shifts that you would go into the Mr.
Wong's break room and people would just be sleeping there
(07:43):
side by side, you know, desperately trying to get some
shut eye.
S2 (07:47):
And this is one of Sydney's most prestigious and well-known restaurants,
and I think diners would be shocked to know what's
going on behind the scenes there, that these chefs felt
so poorly treated. They had just come from an area
in which their lives were at risk through cartel violence.
(08:08):
And to be put in those conditions for a company
that spends two times as much as any other company
on Fitouts only to treat its staff so poorly.
S3 (08:21):
And that's not to mention the staff that we spoke
to that had to continue working through injury. You know,
one person said they could barely walk, but they were
called to come in and sort of stand behind a
barbecue for a full shift. Another person had a broken
bone and was just expected to keep working as normal.
And these are people that had medical certificates and they
(08:43):
were just told, well, you seem fine. Might as well
keep on with it.
S1 (08:48):
Yeah, it is quite horrific to imagine. And yes, you
definitely wouldn't imagine that taking place at a lavish venue
in Sydney on a Friday night. You wouldn't even fathom
that was going on. But there was a turning point
in 2019, when hundreds of staff filed a class action
lawsuit against Merivale, which the company agreed to settle last
year for $19 million without admitting fault. But many migrant
(09:12):
workers actually declined to sign on to that lawsuit. Why
was that, Eric?
S2 (09:17):
They're in fear. They're worried that their visas would be
put at risk if they signed up to a class
action lawsuit that would give them access to restitution for
money that they are owed at the end of the day.
Merivale has this power over staff because it has power
over their visas, and it knows this, and it employs
(09:41):
people in these conditions precisely for that reason. A worker
who is reliant on a visa to stay in Australia
is very unlikely to complain, and the end result are
dozens of deeply unhappy workers who are toiling away just
in the hope that they can make it through to
(10:03):
finally not just have their sponsorship, but eventually permanent residency
so that they can leave Maryvale.
S1 (10:10):
And I did want to ask about this, because you
have those racing towards this golden ticket of permanent residency.
It kind of resulted in quite a unique working environment.
Can you tell me more about that, Bianca?
S3 (10:22):
Yeah. So in Maryvale, it was the chefs that managed
to be promoted to the position of sous chef or
head chef that ended up getting permanent residency. And there's
only a limited number of those positions available. So that
ends up creating a very competitive environment. One chef described
it as an absolute dog fight. So, you know, they
would all sort of be clamouring for this position of
(10:45):
dominance over each other, you know, shouting, bullying each other.
It was sort of like a dog eat dog situation.
S1 (10:52):
And it's this disparity which you both point out between
the wealth of this multibillion dollar empire and the alleged
crumbs it's paying its workers. So what do you make
of that?
S2 (11:02):
I think it's scale and greed at the end of
the day. Companies that are worth billions of dollars only
get there through squeezing every penny. And that comes at
the cost of people. You know, I think Merivale would
say that it does also host, you know, generous staff parties.
(11:25):
It has giveaways. It has all these fabulous events that
are designed to boost morale. But at the end of
the day, the actual pay packets of people are so
tight that that they're struggling to get by. And if
they are getting by Some of them are earning just
(11:47):
over the national hourly minimum wage while working double the
national average hours. So, for example, if you're on a
contract that's worth just over the award of $78,000 a year,
the key distinction is that those overtime rates only apply
(12:07):
if you work a sixth or seventh day in a row.
So what the company does is squeeze as many hours
as humanly possible into five days, and you have chefs
working 14 hour shifts. The cumulative result of all of
that is that you have chefs working 68 hours sometimes,
(12:31):
and basically earning just over $25 an hour. And the
company is run by Justin Hemmes. He's on The Australian
Financial Review's Rich list. He has a mansion that might
(12:52):
well be the most expensive home in Australia, the Hermitage worth.
Analysts say almost $200 million. Now he has created this
empire out of Merivale, which started decades ago as a
department store and transformed it into a hospitality empire. And
(13:15):
despite all of his personal wealth, his company has implemented
policies that we now know because of. Internal documents show
that Merivale is still squeezing its workers by implementing strategies
to make sure that the maximum amount of hours worked
(13:36):
are squeezed into those five days.
S3 (13:38):
Yeah, and it does have a big impact on them.
They were the chefs from Hotel Paddington that spoke to
us about, you know, working 16 hour shifts and being
so exhausted. They would just sit on these milk crates
afterwards and stare at each other silently, downing jug after
jug of beer just to go home, sleep for four hours,
come back and do it all again. They said they
(13:59):
developed a massive drinking and drug abuse problems during those periods.
S1 (14:08):
We'll be right back. And so what did happen to
some of those people you spoke to? Did they leave
the company? Are they okay now?
S3 (14:23):
Well, most of the people I spoke with have since
left the company. Some of them left pretty early on
and found other people to sponsor them. Some returned home
to Mexico and others stuck it out for the full
four years, gained permanent residency with Maryvale and then usually
left within the year. In all of the cases, though,
(14:43):
they're a lot happier now. You know, every other workplace
they've been since, they say it's just night and day.
S2 (14:50):
As one of the chefs said, it sounded like a dream,
but it turned out to be a nightmare. And I
think that's really, you know, typifies the experience of so
many of these chefs that have worked in Maryvale kitchens.
But Bianca has also found out new information about the
next plans for Alliance abroad.
S3 (15:12):
Yes. So Lance abroad contacted the candidates from the 2017
2018 recruitment drive and asked them for their testimonies so
that they can use them to recruit more chefs from
Mexico for Maryvale. I'm presuming later this year or maybe
next year.
S1 (15:28):
Wow.
S3 (15:29):
Yeah.
S1 (15:30):
Well, just on that note, the entire hospitality industry in Australia,
it seems, is facing a reckoning at the moment. Not
just in Sydney, not just at Maryvale. You've reported on
swill House. We've seen, for instance, earlier this month the
outburst of a top chef in Melbourne. So where is
all the accountability in all of this? Are we seeing
any changes since your first reports last year?
S2 (15:53):
Well, I think the companies would say that they've implemented
new safety protocols. Swill House, which had once had one
part time air advisor for a company of 500 employees,
now has someone who is full time. They have put
in other measures to make sure that staff are aware
of of their responsibilities, and that managers are on the
(16:16):
lookout for any sort of unsafe behaviour. The company's response
has very much always been reactive. It's only once the
allegations are published that companies go, oh boy, we might
have a problem here. And then they implement measures. And
that is a good result. You know that they are
actually taking steps and that staff working within those venues
(16:39):
might turn around and go, oh, actually, maybe that isn't okay.
And they're more aware of some of the situations that
they're putting himself in. The government's actively investigating Safework. New
South Wales is still investigating both Maryvale and Swill House.
We've heard from the New South Wales Upper House inquiries
into licensing and potential licensing breaches for those companies. It's
(17:03):
basically a multi-pronged approach, and they've just passed changes to
RSA rules to make sure that all bar staff starting
work in New South Wales have to go through mandatory
sexual harassment training. So that's been a big development in
(17:23):
the in that space. But I think the economics of
the industry, which is fundamentally thousands of young, vulnerable workers,
whether they're Australian or whether they're migrants, are entering an
industry which is absolutely ripe for exploitation. And it is
(17:46):
our job, I think, to give voices to those who
feel like they can't speak up themselves and that they
may have no power in the face of these very
large companies. And I think that's been a big part
of what we've spent the last year doing. And I
would hope that the industry is better for it.
S3 (18:05):
We can only hope.
S1 (18:11):
Well, Eric and Bianca, this is, of course, just one
part of your investigation out this week. You've also covered
the Hermes property empire and notable VIPs at Merivale venues,
including high profile politicians and even criminals. And listeners can
find those stories on our website. So thank you again
both for your time today.
S6 (18:31):
Thank you.
S2 (18:32):
Thanks, Julia.
S1 (18:43):
Maryville responded to questions from our mastheads after recording this podcast.
Lawyers for Maryville have denied all of the allegations against it.
They denied the company targeted migrant workers, stating the allegation
was baseless and offensive. Lawyers acting for Maryville also denied
allegations of racial discrimination, said the company vigorously denied underpaying
(19:06):
its staff and maintained the claims were false. Maryville said
employees receive the pay that meets or exceeds the relevant
award entitlements. Lawyers for Maryville also refuted claims of uncleanliness,
noting Maryville venues are subjected to regular inspections and contracted
(19:27):
professional cleaning services. Today's episode of The Morning Edition was
produced by Josh towers, with technical assistance from Taylor Dent.
Our executive producer is Tammy Mills. Tom McKendrick is our
(19:47):
head of audio. To listen to our episodes as soon
as they drop, follow the Morning Edition on Apple, Spotify,
or wherever you listen to podcasts. Our newsrooms are powered
by subscriptions, so to support independent journalism, visit The Age
or smh.com.au. And to stay up to date. Sign up
(20:10):
for our Morning Edition newsletter to receive a summary of
the day's most important news in your inbox every morning.
Links are in the show. Notes. I'm Julia Katzel. This
is the morning edition. Thanks for listening.
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