‘A highly unusual case’: Workers quit meat works, voiding visas

Dozens of workers on a visa program have quit meat processing jobs in Tasmania and NSW, prompting calls to examine the program.

18 workers have quit a meat processing facility in Tasmania, voiding their visas.

Dozens of workers on a visa program have quit their meat processing jobs in Tasmania and NSW in recent months, prompting calls for major changes to the program.

Meat processing company HW Greenham and Sons general manager Tom Maguire said 18 staff employed under the Pacific Labour Scheme had left his company since Christmas, leaving its Tasmanian processing facility in the lurch.

“Not everyone is replaceable with someone else on a production line. People do certain jobs, and it takes a while to retrain people,” he said.

The workers, who were employed via a labour hire contracting company, represented about 8 per cent of Greenham’s workforce at its Tasmanian site, and were about 12 months into three-year contracts. The site was now running at a lower capacity, Mr Maguire said.

Mr Maguire said he had not received any complaints from the workers before they quit. He believed they were still in the country and had found “greener pastures” working cash-in-hand jobs.

“If there’s no consequences for them, who can blame them?” he said.

He called for stricter penalties for workers in the PLS who leave their jobs early, breaching their visa conditions.

“It’s very simple. Border Force needs to take action against employees (who abscond) and employers that employ people illegally outside their visa conditions,” he said.

Anti-Slavery Taskforce executive officer Alison Rahill, who has supported dozens of workers in Australia from the Pacific Islands, said, while she was not familiar with this specific case, 18 workers quitting in such a short time period was “highly unusual”.

“Back in Vanuatu (where the workers were reportedly from), the government will make sure they never get to come to Australia again, they will have to publicly apologise and the people in their village will all know they’ve done the wrong thing. The consequences are enormous”, Ms Rahill said.

But Gundagai Meat Processors chief executive Will Barton said PLS workers quitting their jobs for cash in hand work had become a common story in the industry.

He said he had been “devastated” to lose 16 out of 57 Pacific Labour Scheme workers his company had sponsored over the past 6-9 months.

“This is devastating for regional businesses like ours who are already grossly understaffed, have committed to the workers for a 3 year period and provided significant training resources to them prior to their abscondment,” he said.

He said his business contributed towards the cost of quarantine, transport and getting the workers established in the community.

“We give them a three year commitment, we secure housing for them, we train them, and then they just walk off. And that leaves us short of a workforce, which isn’t the deal,” he said.

Roughly 65 per cent of Pacific Labour Scheme workers are employed in the meat processing industry.

RESIGNATIONS COMPOUND ISSUES FOR SHORT-STAFFED INDUSTRY

Mr Barton said Australia’s meat industry was already “desperately short of workers” and PLS workers leaving their jobs was compounding the issue.

Before the Omicron coronavirus variant began spreading through NSW, Mr Barton said his business in Gundagai was running at about 80 per cent capacity, “mainly caused by a lack of backpackers over the last two years”.

He said the business was now at 50 – 70 per cent capacity due to Covid-related staffing shortages, but it needed to be at 110 per cent capacity to process all the lambs available for slaughter before September.

“If you can’t do something to resolve the labour shortages, you’re going to end up with lots of lambs around that end up turning into hoggets, at a lesser value comparatively,” he said.

Mr Maguire said he was nervous about staffing shortages at his Tasmanian plant after the PLS workers quit. Two of Greenham’s Victorian facilities – at Moe and Tongala – were forced to close temporarily this month after staff tested positive to Covid.

Will Barton, CEO of Gundagai Meat Processors, says producers will lose out if staff shortages in the meat industry aren’t addressed soon.

CONCERNS OVER PACIFIC LABOUR SCHEME

Advocates say more support is needed for Pacific island workers in the scheme, who may have difficulty raising concerns with their employer if they have them.

Ms Rahill said workers often spoke limited English and could be isolated in remote locations with no workplace representatives.

She said the most common concerns raised with her by workers were not being given enough hours to work, and having what they considered to be unfairly high charges deducted from their pay for services including accommodation and transport.

Ms Rahill said the government should focus on better supporting workers, rather than deporting those who chose to quit.

Given current workforce shortages, “no one wins” if workers are sent home, she said.

Australian Workers Union national secretary Daniel Walton said more safeguards were needed in the PLS to protect the rights of workers. While workers in the scheme were technically able to make complaints if they had any regarding their employment, “in practise this is actively discouraged, at the risk of losing future opportunities”, he said.

In November the Australian government launched an advertising campaign aimed at dissuading Pacific island workers from leaving their jobs after figures revealed more than 1000 workers had attempted to leave their employers before their contracts were over in the 2020-21 financial year.

The campaign warned Pacific island workers they could “bring shame to their family’s reputation” and risk having their visa cancelled if they left their jobs.

From April 2022 the Seasonal Worker Programme and the Pacific Labour Scheme will be consolidated under a single stream known as the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme (PALM), in a move the federal government says will address workforce shortages and ensure workers are protected from exploitation.

The changes follow a spotlight on the treatment of Pacific island workers after Sydney lawyer Stewart Levitt announced a potential class action against the government in November.

Workers involved in the class action claim they have been overcharged for transport, accommodation and the ‘hire’ of tools required to do their work.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Food Industry People Group – the labour hire firm that employed the PLS meatworkers – were contacted for comment but did not respond by deadline.

The Australian Border Force is targeting visa holders who abscond from their employers and the networks that support them. Picture: David Crosling

BORDER FORCE RESPONDS

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Australian Border Force said the department “works with partner agencies to support the effective operation of the Pacific Labour Mobility scheme, including identifying suspected absconders where required”.

The department established Operation Hurdler targeting “facilitators and complicit businesses coercing migrant workers to work illegally or in breach of their visa conditions” on August 1 2021, the spokesperson said.

If the ABF or its partner agencies identify workers who have absconded from their employers, their first approach is “education”, followed by “referral to the visa sponsoring agency for reconnection into the program under the previous or a new approved employer”, the spokesperson said.

“If additional offences are identified, absconders may be referred to the Department of Home Affairs for visa cancellation consideration. Seasonal workers who have had their visa cancelled by the Department will be liable for removal from Australia,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson encouraged any workers, regardless of their visa status, who believed they were being exploited, “to come forward and provide information so that action can be taken against those involved in these practices”.