A 7-Eleven whistle-blower has described the billion dollar franchise as having been “built on something not much different from slavery.” The reality is that the convenience store chain will get away with its systematic abuse whereby it underpaid thousands of workers if staff are not offered visa protection for speaking out, notes a report on the ABC.

Last month, the ABC's Four Corners program revealed “widespread exploitation of 7-Eleven staff, including underpaying them and forcing them to work longer hours than they are permitted under visa conditions. Thousands of workers have been exploited in what is being described as one of Australia's biggest employment scandals.

“The majority of the chain's workers are foreign students on restricted visas and only allowed to work 20 hours per week, but the investigation found… more than two thirds of 7-Eleven's 225 Australian stores had payroll compliance issues, with claims many franchisees would face financial ruin if staff were paid correctly,” noted the report.

7-Eleven chairman, Russell Withers has denied that there is widespread wage rorting and claims,  'relatively few' franchisees are at fault. An independent panel led by former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) boss Allan Fels has been set up by the company to help staff recover their wages. Anyone who has been affected by this can contact the panel on 1800 619 802 or online at www.7elevenindependentpanel.deloitte.com.au.

Labor has urged the Government to give amnesty to students forced to breach visa rules. But Giri Sivaraman from law firm Maurice Blackburn, told the ABC that many are not coming forward, with overseas students concerned they would lose their visas if they admitted to working too many hours. Some reports allege that many workers were paid $10 an hour before tax – well below the award rate of $24 per hour.

He called on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the Federal Government to grant amnesty to staff who speak up.

"Without the amnesty, workers are very scared to come forward. They're very scared about being deported…They're already vulnerable and they've already been exploited, they already have a lack of trust in their employer and sometimes in the legal system as a whole," Giri Sivaraman told the ABC.