'I wasn't paid at all': Jaden was left empty-handed after a month's work

22 November 2018
Sydney Morning Herald
 

Jaden Barber was counting on a $4000 pay day from a month's work labouring on a NSW vineyard to help fund his stay in Australia. Instead, the 20-year-old from Essex, England was left empty-handed.   

"I wasn't paid at all," Mr Barber said. "It ruined the whole of my trip. That money was going to set me up. I struggled a bit from then on. I didn't have as much fun as I would have if I had been paid for my work on the vineyard."


Jaden Barber claims a NSW vineyard failed to pay him for a month's work.

Mr Barber's experience is not a one-off, with a recent blitz on 638 businesses in the farming industry finding more than half underpaid workers, falsified pay records or failed to provide pay slips.   

Fair Work inspectors recovered more than $1 million in unpaid wages for more than 2500 workers after they investigated 638 businesses involved with the harvesting of crops including grapes, strawberries, cherries, mushrooms, apples, citrus fruits and tomatoes.


The inspectors investigated 444 growers and 194 labour hire contractors and took court action against eight employers for serious alleged breaches of the Fair Work Act. Four involved labour hire contractors.

Six matters have been finalised resulting in more than $500,000 in penalties. Two are still before the courts. Fair Work inspectors also issued 150 formal cautions, 132 infringement notices and 13 compliance notices for breaches of workplace laws, and entered into seven enforceable undertakings.

Inspectors found more than half the businesses investigated 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 inquiry found that almost 70 per cent of harvest trail businesses employed visa holders, with those on 417 working holiday visas (18 to 31 year olds) the most common.

Mr Barber, who was in Australia for a working holiday from February to October and originally planned to stay for another year, said he replied to a Facebook ad for the vineyard job and negotiated to be paid $20 an hour plus free accommodation and meals for an eight-hour work day.


Inspectors took court action against eight employers for serious alleged breaches of the Fair Work Act.Credit.

But when he hadn't been paid for almost a month’s work, he approached Redfern Legal Centre in Sydney for advice. It calculated he was owed about $4000, including overtime or penalty rates, and helped Mr Barber send a letter of demand.

When the employer refused to pay, the Legal Centre helped Mr Barber make a claim for his unpaid wages in the Federal Circuit Court. He won and the vineyard was ordered to pay his entitlements but has so far refused to pay. Mr Barber is now preparing to take further action.

Fellow backpacker Aaron Pryke, 23, said he was happy to get a job within 10 days of arriving in Melbourne from England. He initially did irrigation work at a winery north-west Victoria, where he was paid $20 an hour cash after two weeks of "having to pester" the boss.


Aaron Pryke: "It was in the blistering heat. A lot of my friends ... suffered dehydration.

He then worked at a garlic farm, which paid him $23.86 an hour with a pay slip. However, working conditions were tough, with no shelter from the sun and no water provided, and he was not warned that his accommodation was a two-hour drive away.   

"We were basically told after that it was 12-plus hours a day work, seven days a week," he said. "It was in the blistering heat. A lot of my friends ... suffered dehydration."
Unacceptable practices

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the inquiry exposed unacceptable practices of underpaying workers in one of Australia’s largest rural industries.

“Growers rely heavily on migrant workers to pick, pack and process crops, and these workers can be particularly vulnerable. Migrant workers may not seek help because of language and cultural barriers, concerns about visa status, or because they are unaware of their workplace rights,” Ms Parker said. “We will continue to monitor harvest trail employers and prioritise any requests for assistance from workers."

    This is not acceptable and must not be allowed to happen.
    NFF CEO Tony Mahar

National vegetable industry group AUSVEG said it strongly condemned the mistreatment of workers and was taking steps to stamp out unscrupulous operators who damaged the reputation of those who did the right thing.

“As an industry we have identified that this is an issue and are working with government, growers, unions, retailers and others in the supply chain to find a workable solution that protects workers and stamps out mistreatment once and for all,” AUSVEG chairman and Gippsland vegetable grower Bill Bulmer said.

Term Dog wrote on Nov 24^th, 2018 at 6:51am:


Thanks for sharing your experience.

The worst part of this case is that the employer refused to pay after a court ruling.

No suggestion of a legal appeal, just a refusal to pay.

Evidently, employers of foreign workers can wait them out and expect they will leave before they can implement all options to recover wages and court judgments.

Coalition government will be quick to legalise nonpayement to workers.

Bam wrote on Nov 24^th, 2018 at 11:52am:



How many were there under labor?