UNITE (Australia) was inspired by Unite (New Zealand) and has been campaigning against convenience store giant 7-Eleven. It is starting to bring results.

After a series of protests and media publicity, UNITE has forced the Fair Work Ombudsman to take action against 7-Eleven franchisees that have been underpaying international students. Five 7-Eleven stores in Melbourne's CBD will reimburse 88 workers $112,000.

A sixth 7-Eleven store has been instructed to credit almost 1000 hours of annual leave back to 12 workers who were not accruing the entitlement but should have been.

The Melbourne outcome follows the recent recovery of $50,000 for 80 workers at 15 7-Eleven stores in Sydney's CBD. UNITE is still pursuing back pay for several groups of workers employed by 7-Eleven in Geelong.

More on UNITE Australia here.