Protestor dressed as Xenu outside Sydney's Church of Scientology
It’s come to surface recently that the Church of Scientology has been grossly underpaying its staff members in Australia. The Australian government might soon force them to pay out millions in past wages to former and current members who were forced to work for very little or even free.
Several former members blew the whistle to the Australian labor officials claiming they’d be underpaid if paid at all for the last 10 years or so. According to Channel 9′s A Current Affair some workers were being paid a mere $50 a week, with one female worker on this wage receiving a total of 7 days off in the past 4 years! The Herald Sun reported that some workers were receiving as little as $2 a week for full time work, and thus had to rely on welfare to get by. Clearly it’s no surprise as to why the church is so wealthy when a sizeable portion of its workforce are slave labour…!
The Fair Work Ombudsman has been looking into the matter for the past year and a half and will release findings soon. Insiders also stated that the church had avoided paying staff for so long that it could lead to the church’s bankruptcy in its Australian branch. We can only hope…!
The Church of Scientology refused to respond to A Current Affair‘s story stating that:
We will not be commenting on a possible legal action being launched against the Church of Scientology.
In relation to the current inquiry before the Fair Work Ombudsman:
All religious work for the Church of Scientology is done by volunteers in religious service helping others. Engaging in community work such drug education; literacy and numeracy programs; pastoral care; human rights promotion and disaster relief are also manifestations of our religious beliefs. These volunteers also work regular jobs and donate their time to the Church for no other purpose than helping others.The Church fully supports its core religious order and pays all accommodation, food, transport and medical costs of its clergy whilst providing a small stipend weekly for personal items. This is in keeping with the practices concerning clergy of the other major faiths.
Tens of thousands of charities and religions in Australia rely upon the generosity of their volunteers who give their time to help others, be that of a secular or religious nature. The Church of Scientology was declared a bona fide religion by the High Court of Australia in 1983.
I don’t get it. The people decided, “hey, i’m getting payed absolutely nothing. Better keep working here” unless held in bondage I see no slavery just stupidity.
I’d say a fair deal of religious pressure from the church would’ve occurred.
Totally agreed with Cr4ypac. “Let’s do volunteer work for ten years then complain to the government that we should have been paid for the volunteer work instead.”