Government shepherding unemployed into farm work with no guarantee of fair pay
Dec 2 2020 New Daily.
The government is pushing job seekers and students into farm work with the launch of a sweeping social media campaign – but there’s still no assurances workers will be paid a fair wage.   :(

Farmers say they are desperate for workers, but Australians on the ground have told The New Daily they’re still being underpaid, and underemployed compared to backpackers.

On Wednesday the Morrison government launched a social media blitz to fill more than 26,000 vacant farm jobs, targeting 400,000 Australians and visa holders aged between 18 and 30 in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Fruit and vegetable pickers, packers, pruners and planters are in demand across the three states.

The government has also been offering a cash incentive – $6000 to relocate to the regions to help with farm work, but so far only 150 have taken up the offer.

In an industry rife with exploitation, there is no clear promise they will be paid minimum wage.   >:(

Many of the picking jobs on offer are paying piece rates – where the employee gets paid by the amount picked – but many workers say it’s impossible to make minimum wage on those rates.

Australian Workers Union assistant national secretary Misha Zelinsky
said the industry wage sits at a bare minimum which, combined with historic low wage growth, left room for improvement.

“The bigger issue, however, is how frequently the award is ignored without consequence,” Mr Zelinsky said.

‘Set up to fail’
Sarah Jones, 38, has worked as picker most of her adult life and runs a share house for backpackers to stay when they come to work on farms at Tully, a regional Queensland town.

She says she has “no idea” how anyone makes a living from piece rates.


Sarah Jones with other banana pickers.
“It’s like they’re setting them up to fail. You have people, depending on how fast they’re going, they can make $40 for a day,” Ms Jones told The New Daily.

“They need to make it worthwhile. Why don’t they give a base salary? So they say, ‘You will make guaranteed $400 to $500 this week and your commission on top if you pick X amount’.”

Some people The New Daily has spoken to said they took home just $60 a day on piece rates.   :(

This is before many workers are forced to cough up for accommodation that can cost upwards of $300 a week.   

This stokes fears young and vulnerable workers will be drawn out into the regions by the government’s incentive, only to find they can’t make enough money to survive.

Ms Jones has made a decent wage by working for an hourly rate and says the farms around Tully are “unique” in the fact they pay their workers well.

Since September, when she left her banana picking job, she has not been able to find more work.

“I have experience and live here. I can offer longevity, but I struggled to find a farm that was willing to put me on,” she said.

“There is that stigma, we (Australians) don’t work hard.”

She recently got a few days work picking fruit but was laid off with the other Australians – yet the farm kept 10 backpackers.

“I reckon there would have been 15 (employed) and out of that five Australians lost their job and 10 backpackers kept their jobs.

“They don’t justify it. They just dismiss you.”

She sees similar situations replicated for the backpackers she accommodates – they have no problems finding jobs.

Breakdown between farmers, workers

Ms Jones had her last picking job for three years.
Ms Jones has joined a growing chorus of Australians who say they have applied and been rejected from farm work – some of them up to 20 times.

There’s mistrust between the two groups, she said.

Farmers don’t trust Australians to work hard, and Australians don’t trust farmers to pay them properly.

“I think the lack of contact and communication between farmers and Australians is really poor,” she said.

The government did not respond before deadline to The New Daily’s questions about how they would ensure Australians would be properly paid.

And Australians looking for farm work have no way of telling if they will be joining a farm that pays fairly.   :(

Across Australia’s horticulture industry just 30 Australian farms have completed a government program designed to ensure workers are not exploited.

The scheme, called Fair Farms, is frequently championed by industry groups and the federal government to defend the ‘clean up’ of Australia’s horticulture industry, where exploitation of workers is a chronic issue.

But since the voluntary scheme was launched in June 2019 only 30 farms have been certified via the program, which has cost taxpayers more than $1.5 million.

Fair Farms is meant to foster responsible employment practices in the Australian horticulture industry and is backed by the powerful industry group, the National Farmers Federation, and major retailers, such as Coles, Woolworths and Aldi.

Fred Flintstones   :(
They'll only sack you anyway when the backpackers "comeback" and that's when you get robodebted.
Let farmers pick their own fruit, after all you earn $3500 a week lol


Man Centre   :(
The attempts by thus govt to fix this are so laughable I can only assume they arent serious. Just going thru the motions for the sake of appearing to do something. Normal for this govt. No young Aussie is going to give up her spot in a metro share house to get ripped of on a farm without access to her normal support networks. She needs an expectation that she can cover costs and build up a new bond as a minimum.

Bob Harvey   :(
It would seem to be fairly obvious that the problem is the Government.
They put in the "Fair Work Program" and the farmers appear to be ignoring it. It obviously should be compulsory and any farmer ripping off workers heavily penalised.
They are encouraging the unemployed to take up farm work regardless of the desires and needs of the person unemployed and their suitability. It is a numbers game without any semblance of reality.
Maybe the Government needs to listen to the experts for once.

Allan Milnes   :(
Get up, go to work, go home, shower, eat, crash out
Get up, go to work, go home, shower, eat, crash out
Day after day in 30c+ for a piece work pittance
Been there, done that.

christ,  i would NEVER want someone with YOUR attitude coming within 10 miles of my place.

you'd have a compo claim going by morning smoko

I got my message on my phone telling me about farm work in my area. I am not relocating hundreds of kilometres just to pick fruit for some minimum wage conditions.

UnSubRocky wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2020 at 5:11pm:

I got my message on my phone telling me about farm work in my area. I am not relocating hundreds of kilometres just to pick fruit for some minimum wage conditions.

Its not minimum wage - its well below that

Spot

Sir Spot of Borg wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2020 at 6:25pm:

UnSubRocky wrote on Dec 3rd, 2020 at 5:11pm: I got my message on my phone telling me about farm work in my area. I am not relocating hundreds of kilometres just to pick fruit for some minimum wage conditions. Its not minimum wage - its well below that Spot

Minimum wage is bad enough. I currently have to deal with an easy job that pays quite well. But I have to work a minimum number of hours. I don't want the conditions of work to go upside-down for a fruit picking job.

aquascoot wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2020 at 5:01pm:

christ,  i would NEVER want someone with YOUR attitude coming within 10 miles of my place. you'd have a compo claim going by morning smoko

I was thinking imphukingcrookonit would have finally got a job.  ;D

What other jobs are there? Gotta start to accept that we are a Banana Republic with all the social and equal economic standards of such a thing...

This country is stuffed..... successive 'governments' saw to that.. but they'll be all right for life out of your pocket even as you starve ... got any sons or daughters to sell into the sex trade?

They are nothing but animals.... and you vote for them.... I Don't!!

So is WhiteKnight going to send all those unemployed Chinese (the biggest ethnic group in Sydney) out from their comfort-zone cities into the Aussie Bush to pick fruit? Or don't they have any unemployed?
C'mon. White Australians get called Racist. Well here's an opportunity to let another people 'have it'!  ;)

Lol

True story

Not a Chinese but a Vietnamese migrant I know
Started off with fruit picking
Saved up a deposit for an investment property
Rent it out 2 a family he knew
And lived in a caravan on the block

He was possibly the most industrious person I ever met
He cleared by hand all the bush on a block I bought
He would paint
He would slash blocks
He would concrete

The guy was a perpetual motion machine
I suppose most of his work was for cash but good on him

He brought another property and then another property whilst continuing to live in his caravan
He married at Vietnamese woman and bought her a bakery
Then he bought some commercial property

My wife still goes to the bakery because the Vietnamese are excellent bakers
And she said that Joe
As he calls himself
Is often there
Scrubbing the floors and emptying the bins

I would say Joe
Is now conservatively worth 20 mil

Your average white knight has no concept of what a work ethic is
When I hear people like white night talk
Or indeed half the unemployed
It's like I'm listening to a crazy person

Their concept of hard work is just a joke to me
And when they cry their little cry baby narrative
It's worse than pathetic

I am so glad that we have imported some Asians such as Joe
To at least give some lip service to the meaning of hard work

It is an honour to see someone really put in and contribute like that
I would nominate him for Australian of the year

People such as white night should be loaded onto a boat
Strip naked
And sent to Vietnam as refugees
It would actually be incredibly good and character building for them

aquascoot wrote on Dec 4^th, 2020 at 6:17am:

Lol True story Not a Chinese but a Vietnamese migrant I know Started off with fruit picking Saved up a deposit for an investment property Rent it out 2 a family he knew And lived in a caravan on the block He was possibly the most industrious person I ever met He cleared by hand all the bush on a block I bought He would paint He would slash blocks He would concrete The guy was a perpetual motion machine I suppose most of his work was for cash but good on him He brought another property and then another property whilst continuing to live in his caravan He married at Vietnamese woman and bought her a bakery Then he bought some commercial property My wife still goes to the bakery because the Vietnamese are excellent bakers And she said that Joe As he calls himself Is often there Scrubbing the floors and emptying the bins I would say Joe Is now conservatively worth 20 mil Your average white knight has no concept of what a work ethic is When I hear people like white night talk Or indeed half the unemployed It's like I'm listening to a crazy person Their concept of hard work is just a joke to me And when they cry their little cry baby narrative It's worse than pathetic I am so glad that we have imported some Asians such as Joe To at least give some lip service to the meaning of hard work It is an honour to see someone really put in and contribute like that I would nominate him for Australian of the year People such as white night should be loaded onto a boat Strip naked And sent to Vietnam as refugees It would actually be incredibly good and character building for them

And when was that? Backwhen houses in sydney were about 25k?

Spot

Looks like aquascoot has fallen off his horse again, hitting his head.   :(    

Your little Viet-na-mese isn't yet been captured by a Veil Fall of Australia yet. Not yet sedated by the Blue Hazes of the Eucalypts. Not yet distracted by the poisons and toxins of this region.
Chances are your little Viet-na-mese is a very unsociable Yellow who works like a Slave and one day will become one because of it.
Yellow people need to become more 'sociable' to integrate with other Australians.
Just like China needs to become 'sociable'.



...Fruit Picking: The good ones make very good money. But the mainstream, part-time and casual pickers tend not to be as good and hence the perception that it is lowpaying. I've seen Pickers make $400 a day if they're good.

Jasin wrote on Dec 4^th, 2020 at 8:27am:

Your little Viet-na-mese isn't yet been captured by a Veil Fall of Australia yet. Not yet sedated by the Blue Hazes of the Eucalypts. Not yet distracted by the poisons and toxins of this region. Chances are your little Viet-na-mese is a very unsociable Yellow who works like a Slave and one day will become one because of it. Yellow people need to become more 'sociable' to integrate with other Australians. Just like China needs to become 'sociable'. ...Fruit Picking: The good ones make very good money. But the mainstream, part-time and casual pickers tend not to be as good and hence the perception that it is lowpaying. I've seen Pickers make $400 a day if they're good.

It's interesting that you say he needs to become more sociable

But I think that is projecting Australian perceptions on to someone else

I can tell you that many Asians are absolutely jubilant
To have the opportunity to work 12 hours a day seven days a week

It's not really even that hard
Once you get used to really hard work
There is a sort of arrogant joy
In looking at the rest of society
All those obese beaten  down chodes
Those people whose eyes have no sparkle
Those people who live in a permanent durrr state

there is a joy in looking at them and realising that you did not take that catastrophic path

It's like when I drive past a caravan park
and see all those grey nomads sitting in their deck chairs
Sucking back on a Forex
Looking into the distance with a blank expression

It sends a shiver down my spine
To think that people can spend their day like that

I would top myself by 8:30 in the morning

Unsociable Yellow Asians in Australia.

Jasin wrote on Dec 4^th, 2020 at 9:27am:

Unsociable Yellow Asians in Australia.

Being sociable is highly overrated

Being an effective brutal competitor who crushs it in the work place
Is life affirming

No. Being sociable is an act of trust.
If lots of other 'peoples' can join in with the Australia Day 'sacred BBQ', but the Asians prefer to ignore it and keep working to get ahead of the others...
...just doesn't go down right does it.  ;)

Jason

Imagine someone who has set off to climb mount Everest
He's not being sociable and hanging around at the BBQ

But as he is flying back to Australia after accomplishing this feat
He probably feels absolutely awesome

he probably didn't enjoy climbing Everest while he was doing it
It was hard
His muscles ached
He was exhausted

But he is an extraordinary human being and should be admired

That's how I view the Asian who works 12 hour days 7 days a week
he is like that extraordinary human being climbing Everest

It's hard
His muscles ache
He's exhausted

He's also absolutely heroic in my eyes

As for those obese bloated Chubbers chowing down on their BBQ
And trying to look down on my Asian friend

Laughable and pathetic

I've got nothing against those who want to 'work'.
But there comes a time of compromise in the name of 'Socialising' the Australian culture and if some don't want to 'contribute' - then they deserve the isolation from others they get for it.

Don't trust Asians - they're very unsociable Australians.  ;)

We need to very rapidly change our attitude to workaholics'

They should be admired and revered :D :D :D