Fairwork Decision Devastates Horticulture Community

Author: Kate Cook

Fairwork Decision Devastates Horticulture Community

It’s an issue that fell into the shadow of the federal election, but for the last few months Australian growers have been forced to walk off their land because their businesses have been made unsustainable due to changes to the Horticulture Award.

On the 15th of April the changes made to the Horticulture Award were: adjustments to ordinary hours for casuals, overtime rates for casuals, and public holiday rates for casuals. These adjustments seem simple enough, but they will have a devastating impact on growers who are trying to keep their farms going.

Although April doesn’t seem that long ago, these new changes to the Horticulture Award have been coming down the pipeline for a while and have had farmers understandably worried. Back in August 2018 growers had the chance to voice their concerns about the proposed changes, and they did so by sending in submissions to the Fairwork Commission. It seems that this submission process was a waste of time — not only were none of their concerns respected, but even their request to have an adequate amount of time to put structures in place that would manage these changes was rejected. Instead, growers were notified on the 2nd of April that by the start of the first full pay period on or after the 15th of April the changes would be in effect and they would be breaking the law if they did not comply.

There is a clear reason why this issue has not been in the media’s spotlight, and it’s very simple: even though these changes will ruin Australia’s horticulture industry, no one wants to put their hand up to say that workers shouldn’t be paid more. Farmers are grateful for their workers and understand that a higher wage attracts more people to the industry, the problem is that because farms are not a standard workplace these pay increases will hit growers harder than any other type of employer and effectively run them out of business.

Primarily, this is an issue that revolves around Fairwork misunderstanding the unique workforce and hours of the Horticultural industry. Almost all of these labourers are unskilled and need to be trained, and many are attracted to the industry because they want to complete a large amount of work over a short period in order to fund their travel. But with the new restriction that says that the ordinary hours of work for casual employees will not exceed 304 hours over an eight-week period, growers won’t be able to offer workers the large amount of work they are looking for because they cannot afford the overtime rates that come with going over this cap.

In addition to this, growers also will have to cut back labourers’ hours further as they cannot afford another of the changes to the award, which requires increased rates for work completed between 8:31pm and 4:49am. This will have a significant impact as well, as the picking of produce usually starts before the sun rises in order to keep workers safe from the elements and get more work completed in a single day, but now this won’t be something growers can afford to do.

Growing produce is also constantly at the mercy of mother nature, but now if there is inclement weather such as a heatwave or thunderstorm that has the potential to ruin exposed crops, farmers will no longer be able to afford to pay workers to make sure everything is collected before the weather hits — which will mean excessive amounts of good produce could be wasted.

Overall, the lack of consideration that has been given to the unique working environment of the horticultural industry will lead to these jobs being less appealing to seasonal workers as they cannot get the same hours they used to. Instead of providing holiday workers with more hours of employment, the new Horticulture Award will actually reduce the amount of work an individual will be offered as employers will instead employ extra workers so that the job will be completed sooner. The long-term consequence of this change will be that holiday work on farms will become less appealing as the individual cannot earn as much with less hours on offer, which will cause people to leave the industry for other options and contribute to the already problematic labour shortage.

Another set of consequences will be put directly onto the consumer as a result of these changes. For everyday Australians the cost of fruit and vegetables will continue to rise as more and more farmers either leave their businesses or reduce the amounts they are producing to survive. This will create a gap in the market, and the demand will no doubt be filled by imported fruit and vegetables. The idea that in the future Australian families will struggle to buy Australian fruit and veg at their local greengrocer is shocking, and on top of that they will also have to pay more than ever for fresh ingredients.

With all of this on the line it is a wonder that more isn’t being said about this issue. Although farmers are stereotypically a stoic bunch who take what they are given, this new policy is going too far as it threatens the livelihoods they have worked so hard to grow and maintain.