For decades, one of Australia’s worst industries for exploitation, abuse and harassment of workers has avoided the public opprobrium it richly deserves, skating by on its rural setting, its targeting of migrants and visitors, the unthinking support of journalists and the unconditional support of the National Party. It was even able to get Labor to do its bidding.
Now the horticulture industry has been belted by the Fair Work Commission (FWC), which has dissected its exploitation and its efforts to cover it up and sell a story of pastoral idylls and happy migrants in bucolic settings
It’s what happens when independent decisionmakers consider and assess actual evidence and ignore polling, politics and donations in working out what is best for the public interest.
Wednesday’s Fair Work Commission decision granting an Australian Workers Union (AWU) application to vary the horticulture award means an end to the current award exemption from a minimum hourly wage if the fruit picker agrees to a piece work rate. Under the current award, theoretically a fruit picker can either work for a minimum wage or take a piece work rate agreed by employers and unions that will mean if they work hard enough they can earn 15% more than the minimum wage, or even more for high-productivity pickers.
The FWC found that the piece work system instead is a recipe for ripping off workers, and the victims are usually foreign temporary workers — working holidaymakers, temporary visa holders, undocumented migrants — whose visa restrictions and language skills leave them especially vulnerable to exploitation by greedy farmers.
The way that the industry association, the Australian Fresh Produce Association (AFPA), and the national farming lobby, the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF), tried to bullshit the FWC is a story in itself.
The AWU and other unions assembled a mountain of evidence that the piece work rate — which Julia Gillard as industrial relations minister in 2009 retained — is used to push worker wages below minimum wage. Adelaide legal academic Dr Joanna Howe, who has long experience in documenting the horticulture sector and who had authored a report commissioned by the industry itself into the horticulture workforce in 2019, prepared a statement. Professor Elsa Underhill provided detailed analysis of the composition of the workforce and piece rate payments accumulated over several years.
AFPA tried to discredit both experts. Its expert claimed Howe’s work was “a collection of anecdotes and stories”, that Howe — who was “unimpressive” and biased (despite being commissioned by employers to produce a report) — had hidden evidence by not including all the very large appendices from her own, earlier, publicly available report in her current statement. They also tried to misrepresent her qualitative research as purporting to be quantitative, and told the commission to ignore Underhill’s research because it was only focused on working holidaymakers, rather than the entire industry.
The FWC dismissed AFPA’s efforts to undermine the evidence. What it did reject was a survey offered by the National Farmers’ Federation, which was explicitly circulated as part of an NFF campaign to oppose the case. One farmer respondent even wrote form letters for migrant fruit pickers to sign to add to their response to the NFF questionnaire.
The crux of the AFPA/NFF case is that piece work is great — it enables productive workers to earn well above minimum wage, and piece work has a long history in the relevant award. The FWC rejected the argument. The evidence showed widespread payment well below the minimum wage. And the history of the award, and the current wording, was about a piece work rate agreed between employers and unions.
The unions produced a long list of workers and union officials who talked about how below-minimum wages were paid and no effort was ever made to negotiate a rate with unions — employees were offered a rate devised by the farmer on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, and employers simply ignored the requirement to negotiate a rate with unions. “Piece rates are dictated by the grower,” the FWC says, “and are not the subject of negotiation between the employer (which may be the grower or, more commonly, a labour hire provider).”
What the industry portrays as a risk-reward balance for workers is in fact all risk and little reward for many workers — especially those with a poor grasp of English, or unaware of their basic rights. “A substantial proportion of the seasonal harvesting workforce are engaged on piece rates and more than half of the seasonal harvesting workforce are temporary migrant workers,” the FWC found. “These characteristics render the seasonal harvesting workforce vulnerable to exploitation.”
From now on, there’ll still be reward for productive workers — the piece rate system remains in place. But workers can’t be paid less than the minimum wage. A key rort exploited by one of Australia’s most sordid industries has been closed — unless the industry can successfully appeal the decision. To do so, it might have to improve its grasp of basic facts.
About time, I hope it sticks. The growers are arguing that it will increase prices for consumers, well if the only way the prices stayed low was by ripping off workers then prices will have to go up, simple as that. If we brought back slavery, prices could go way way down but we’re not going to do that because it’s wrong.
Slavery is still in modern version
I wonder if we paid ‘the right’ price for their produce (supermarket duopolies squeezing the crap out of producers – for profit more than a concern for customers) – and if there wasn’t so much ‘aesthetic’ waste – would those shonky farmers pay their workers their worth.
And it’s a pity the farmers unions couldn’t clean up the acts of their shonky members – like they expect other (‘ordinary’) unions to do.
IDK or maybe farmers could cut their profit margins? Why do they need to raise prices?
I know farmers who are extremely wealthy, my first thought would be they could cut their own margins. That is the solution to at least half of the business world. We don’t need inflation and we don’t need price rises. Obviously many of these profit margins are very fat. If a CEO is being paid $20 million a year then they can be paid $15 million a year before prices need to rise.
Jeff Bezos went to space but prices need to rise????
To cover the cost of production with a reasonable, livable profit.
Look at what happened to the dairy industry when Coles and Woollies had their “promotional price war”.
The prices farmers are being screwed down on by super-markets, that don’t even cover the cost of production in too many cases?
Just one farmer I know put 4 kids through top tier private boarding school and then supported through university. That’s standard for farming families. Plus everyone skis, has nice cars, goes on overseas holidays. Yet they all claim to be broke and in need of screwing down workers.
It’s the same old story throughout the business world. Business owners cry poor, but we have eyes! You’re going to space, you drive a merc, you have a yacht, you have 10 kids at Melbourne Grammar and you gave them all a house deposit. We’re not blind why do these people think we are so stupid.
Are you seriously saying that all farmers are so well off?
I went to school and college with the children of the squatocracy and kids from farms on the bones of their arse. Times when sheep were bringing 10/20 cents each – less than cost of trucking to abattoirs. The bottom falling out of the cattle market. Dairy farmers that had to leave their farms – especially after Howard (with the National Party) deregistered the industry.
Vegetable and fruit farmers battered by climate and a supermarket duopoly intent on screwing them. I don’t know if there’s an apricot orchard left in Stanthorpe because they’re not economical to produce.
It’s those farmers that need support.
“deregulated” (the dairy industry) of course.
True but as with Camille Smith’s seemingly blanket generalisations about all farmers being rich or comfortably off let’s say, some farmers have been the architect of their own demise. Take the farmers who borrowed in foreign currency in the 1980s and got done over when the A$ tanked. I never forget the farmers of the Central West in the 80s and 90s as well where I lived and worked around Bathurst-Orange-Blayney-Oberon region who, when the price of wool hit a record high in March 1988, (not Korean War record but a good post KW record just the same), the sheep and other wool farmers overstocked dramatically hoping to make a killing. The arse fell out of the wool market. All western countries were in massive debt, all were experiencing to varying degrees high inflation, high unemployment, budget and current account deficits, capital account deficits, business bankruptcies, property booms and asset price booms followed by property and other asset price busts, high interest rates for business and home loan borrowing, recession and a range of other social and economic bad news. Farmers here decided to stock up – when business loans were approaching 20% in many cases. All the bad economic news mentioned above hit with a vengeance and we couldn’t rely on the Russians or Eastern bloc countries to buy our wool for their armies as they were experiencing their transition to capitalism, democracy and were simply to broke to buy our products let alone our wool. The result – the biggest stock pile of wool this country ahs ever seen. It took till some time in 2001 or 2002 for the stockpile to clear.
Much as I am glad for farmers, they are a business like everybody else.
Damn straight. Who the hell do these people think they are kidding. I worked with one guy in the public service. A good guy. He was born in the country and had farmers for parents and he was raised from Year 5 to Year 12 at private boarding schools. I know there a lot of farmers out there who have been doing it tough for years but, just like the whingers who cry poor and foul at every opportunity yet are anything but poor and which you have alluded to in your comments, no one is holding a gun at their heads making them farm. I hear of some farmers and you don’t have to go far to hear the bad stories, Mudgee, Gulgong region, who it is said, after years of work and retiring are on negative income. They owe more than they earn at retirement age. This is terrible but I remember 30 years ago and I was a tradesman in a dying trade in an industry in decline and when I complained about poor treatment and lack of work and job security in y industry, got told to look elsewhere as well as a few other not so polite and unhelpful remarks. I did just that and haven’t looked back since. Why would I after 20-50 years in a job tell people how tough it is? This is just whingeing and farmers buy and large are very good at it.
Why work in an industry that is unprofitable? You think these farmers don’t have choices? I cannot accept that a business model deserves credence and survival if it relies on illegal exploitative practises.
Bezos? What a tosser
Our food is much too cheap leading to a race to the bottom.
Agreed.
Perhaps the true ‘cost’ of our food will have to be passed on to consumers- is that so outrageous?? That is preferable to the exploitation of workers, backpackers and those from Pacific countries. A further observation; the recent ruling on the ‘backpacker tax’ is yet another example of the stupidity of Barnaby Joyce, who was Deputy PM at the time and pushed this. It was unfair, and counterproductive and discriminated. Although this was obvious at the time, the Government passed the legislation. Now the challenge has been upheld by the High Court- well done Barnaby!! Has this govt actually achieved anything?
Hang on barnaby does not approve things unless he has all the detailed costs
He is very strong on that point
Only when dealing with climate matters otherwise it’s – yeah whatever!
Joyce needs to go out picking for a season or two. It would do him good to remove some blubber and stay off the piss for a while. Also he would meet ordinary grafters instead of farmers and mining executives.
Listen carefully you may hear a silent Barnaby Joyce in the background .The exploitation of farmworkers from the Pacific Islands has been a disgrace .Recent media reports suggest the Feds may have actually advised workers that complaining about conditions and wages may result in termination of their work permits .
Easy to see why there is no rush by Australian workers to fill the positions previously occupied by backpackers many of whom were willing to work for substandard wages to subsidise their holidays
Australian’s are not rushing to do low paid cruisy jobs like retail let alone fruit picking.
And backpackers didn’t work to subsidise their holidays. They can find easier work to do that. They did for a visa extension so they could continue working for less, which is still more than their home country. Fruit picking was a visa scam for them. All to the detriment of local workers in working class jobs. No backpacker would willingly go pick fruit except for the very naive ones. It was all to gain another year’s access to our wages.
There is a lot of focus on the plight of migrants and very little said about the people who suffered when a backpacker gained another year’s working rights and then worked for less.
I agree. Temporary visa holders, the 417 class usually, got a further year’s extension on their visa if they worked on a farm in in a rural or regional area. It was a scam to clock up time spent in Oz to the detriment of some poor Aussie sap trying to look for work in a regional / rural area at a reasonable wage. The latter were always undercut.
While I agree the visa extension aspect is a bit dodgy, although it only needed 90 days of work to get the extra year stay therefore leaving a lot of time for holidaying, I’d contend that retail is hardly “cruisy”. Yes, more air conditioning & less flies but if you have ever had to deal with whinging, self entitled customers day in day out it’s a bit of a toss up whether they’re better than exploitative farmers. Not forgetting of course the ABC expose`on similar exploitation of retail workers by 7Eleven franchisees driven by the business model of the franchisor.
Porky Joyce and the venal Nats have very little interest in fair wages.
Plenty of growers are now bleating about losing half their crop because of lack of pickers, and asking why don’t city people come and pitch in to help, eg the unemployed. Low pay is only part of the problem. Coles and Woollies act as a monopoly and should be outlawed. The NFF thinks it’s God Feeding The World. Accommodation and food for pickers can be rubbish. And lady pickers may, possibly, find that their virtue is not safe. OH&S is often crap. Pickers face a fraught world and their only redress is to walk, hoping the next place will be better. There is no accountabiliy. They could once have called on the Union, but the LNP has spent many years gutting that idea, with justice for casual workers the last thing they want, ditto the NFF.
Most growers are very good, wanting their trained-up people to return next year, and pay well, presumably, to keep it happening.
If growers are mostly good in their number, why is their a 70% non-compliance rate for payment of correct wages pertinent to their award?