Noncompliance exposed in Harvest Trail program

A FIVE-YEAR inquiry into abuse, mistreatment and underpayment of seasonal farm workers involved with the Harvest Trail employment program has made damning findings and exposed a culture of noncompliance in Australia’s horticultural sector.

Damning findings: A culture of noncompliance in Australia’s horticultural sector has been exposed.

A FIVE-YEAR inquiry into abuse, mistreatment and underpayment of seasonal farm workers involved with the Harvest Trail employment program has made damning findings and exposed a culture of noncompliance in Australia’s horticultural sector.

The federal Opposition said it would introduce a national labour hire scheme if elected next year to protect workers from exploitation after the Fair Work Ombudsman revealed thousands of employees in the Harvest Trail seasonal farm workers program had been underpaid or unfairly treated.

The FWO said it had recovered more than $1 million in unpaid wages for more than 2500 workers and called in nearly $500,000 in penalties over the course of the inquiry.

The National Farmers’ Federation said the findings made “difficult reading” but were not unexpected, and the organisation has vowed not to shy away from significant workplace problems in the horticulture sector.

The Harvest Trail follows the seasonal harvesting of fresh fruit and vegetables, involving thousands of horticulture and viticulture businesses.

The Federal Government promotes the trail through a dedicated website, helping to link job seekers with harvest jobs Australia-wide.

Over the course of the inquiry inspectors investigated 638 businesses connected with the harvesting of crops including citrus, grapes, strawberries, cherries, mushrooms, apples and tomatoes.

At least half those businesses breached workplace laws, including deliberate and significant underpayments of base pay rates, falsification of records, deliberate withholding of pay slips, non-payments and unauthorised deductions.

The report found that almost 70 per cent of Harvest Trail businesses employed visa holders.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said the Government had failed to address worker exploitation in the farm sector.

“Overseas workers and local residents alike are not attracted to a sector subject to so many adverse reports about abuse and unfair work practices.”

Mr Fitzgibbon said Labor wanted legislation to ensure workers employed through a labour-hire company received the same pay and conditions as people employed directly and would introduce a national labour-hire licensing scheme to protect workers from exploitation.

Mr Mahar said NFF welcomed recent improvements by the Government to bolster the capacity of the Fair Work Ombudsman to deal with allegations of worker exploitation and to appoint an Industry Workforce Coordinator.

The FWO will establish a stakeholder reference group to consider steps to implement the report’s recommendations and build a culture of compliance.