The Fair Work Ombudsman will again return to the hunter region in January for the annual wine harvest, after investigations revealed that 68 grape pickers were underpaid $14,120 last season.
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The Fair Work Ombudsman flagged late last year that it would be active in the Hunter Valley as part of its three-year national Harvest Trail project.
In mid-November 2013, with the assistance of the Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association, Fair Work inspectors addressed employers and labour-hire contractors at an information session in Pokolbin.
This was followed-up in December by visits to eight youth hostels and random site visits in January and February this year to 16 vineyards and six grape picking labour-hire contractors around Cessnock, Muswellbrook and Singleton.
Some local employers subsequently told the Fair Work Ombudsman its presence “stopped some dodgy contractors from coming to the area”.
“They say the combination of our media and education activity, along with the field visits, kept non-compliant operators away and created a far more level playing field for local operators,” Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said.
The Harvest Trail program is in response to persistent complaints and concerns about the horticulture sector’s compliance with federal workplace laws.
A key focus of this activity was checking that employers were meeting requirements of the Wine Industry Award 2010 and the Fair Work Act 2009.
Of the 500-strong workforce engaged by the 22 businesses audited during the harvest period, more than 400 were overseas workers, some under the age of 25.
Many were on 417 working holiday visas from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, France and Germany and working to support an application for a second-year visa.
As part of their inquiries, inspectors discovered four employers had collectively underpaid 68 employees a total of $14,120.
Half of the underpaid employees were overseas visa-holders, including about a dozen under the age of 21.
The bulk of the underpayments related to one business, which was found to have short-changed 51 of its workers just over $11,000 with contravention letters issued to three businesses.
Other issues identified included employers not keeping accurate records, not maintaining individual flexibility agreements, part-time agreements not being in place for part-time workers, and the Fair Work Information Statement not being provided to new employees.
M.s James says that while it was disappointing to find a number of underpayments, it was pleasing the employers agreed to rectify the mistakes and accepted assistance from Fair Work inspectors to put processes in place to ensure ongoing compliance.
