Piece rates: Fair Work rules fruit pickers must be paid minimum casual rate

The Fair Work Commission decision has been labelled both a “great victory” and “bitter blow”. HAVE YOUR SAY

The Fair Work Commission has ruled in favour of a minimum casual rate of pay for fruit pickers. File picture: Sue Graham

Australia’s Fair Work Commission has found that horticulture pieceworker provisions are “not fit for purpose” in a landmark case, ruling farmers must pay fruit pickers a minimum casual rate of pay.

The Australian Workers Union – backed by the United Workers Union, as well as the Victorian, Queensland and WA state Labor governments – made the application to change part of the Horticulture Award 2020, which deals with pieceworker rates.

Piece rates are where an employee gets a pay rate for the amount picked, packed or pruned.

AWU national secretary Daniel Walton said the decision by the Fair Work Commission “ranks among the great victories of our union’s 135-year history”.

AWU national secretary Daniel Walton described the decision as a great victory. Picture: Ben Rushton

“Fruit pickers in Australia have been routinely and systemically exploited and underpaid,” Mr Walton said.

“Now it will be easy for workers — even if they don’t have good English language skills or Australian connections – to understand if they’re being ripped off.

“From now on if you’re making less than $25 an hour fruit picking in Australia your boss is breaking the law and stealing from you.”

However, National Farmers’ Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said the AWU “should hang its head in shame” for using the decision “to cast an aspersion that all Australian farmers set out to deliberately rip off workers.”

National Farmers' Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said the decision was a bitter blow to farmers. Picture: Lukas Coch

He said the decision was a “bitter blow” and would push many farmers’ wage costs to unsustainable levels and could drive horticulture’s most capable workers away from the industry.

“Farmers want to ensure workers are paid fairly and they also want to be able to reward their most productive workers,” Mr Mahar said.

“The increase in wage costs, most farm’s largest input, threatens to make the most productive workers unaffordable.

“The loss of these workers will put a handbrake on agriculture’s growth, at a time when our country can least afford it.”

It is estimated there will be a shortage of 24,000 harvest workers in early 2022 for the coming peak harvest season.

Some farmers planted less crops this year due to the shortage, as well as cost increases on vital farm inputs and lockdowns closing the food-service sector.

NSW Farmers said the number of workers returning to work on the same farms year after year was a strong sign that the current piece work arrangements were fit for purpose.

“There are very real fears that our farmers, who already need to compete with cheap imported produce on supermarket shelves, will be squeezed even tighter by a decision that does not take all factors into account, add to the administrative burden of farmers, and invariably result in higher workforce management costs,” a spokesman said.

The Fair Work Commission, which listened to hearings of evidence throughout July, said while some pieceworkers earned significantly more than the ‘target rate’ for the average competent pieceworker, the evidence presented a picture of significant underpayment of pieceworkers in the horticulture industry when compared to the minimum award hourly rate.

In its summary of decision, the Commission said the seasonal harvesting workforce was vulnerable to exploitation, with “a substantial proportion” engaged on piece rates and more than half of the workforce were temporary migrant workers.

The Australian Fresh Produce Alliance said enforcement going forward should be targeted at the “poor, non-compliant” employers who made up the heart of the evidence the decision was based on.

AFPA said retail, wholesale and food service buyers need to refuse to purchase from, support or advocate for employers who are wilfully non-compliant.