Employers have been warned not to exploit backpackers after complaints that one Victorian operator is paying fruit pickers 60c an hour.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has received complaints that an operator from Mildura was bullying and sexually harassing backpacker workers.
The business allegedly charges backpackers $450 to find them jobs and then pays them as little as 60c an hour to work on local farms. The operator, it is claimed, charges backpackers up to $150 to stay in “sub-standard houses and caravans”, fitting up to 32 people into a single house with a further 12 people accommodated in the garage.
The Fair Work Ombudsman said it was not the first time there had been complaints against the business, adding that it was unacceptable to exploit backpackers, who often have poor English.
The current hourly rate for a casual fruit or vegetable picker under the horticulture award is $21.08 but the flouting of this rule is the most common complaint made by fruit pickers, the ombudsman said.
Other issues include inadequate accommodation and being ripped off for various costs. Often, casual labourers are driven to a cash point and told to pay money up-front for bond, transport and accommodation. They are then given work at a rate so low that it is impossible to pick enough fruit to make up the minimum hourly rate.
The ombudsman said in some cases workers are “virtually bonded” to an operator who tells them they will not get their visas extended unless they remain in their employment.
“Growers should have alarm bells ringing if someone offers to provide them with labour for less than $21 an hour,” said Tom O’Shea, executive director of the Fair Work Ombudsman.
“It should not be the case, and it’s not fair that growers who are doing the right thing, and labour-hire providers who are doing the right thing, should be competitively disadvantaged by the behaviour of the minority of dodgy operators.
“Growers who are doing the wrong thing need to be aware that they can be held liable as an accessory under the Fair Work Act, if they knowingly enter into sub-standard and illegal arrangements with unscrupulous operators.”
The Fair Work Ombudsman is running an initiative to remind regional businesses of their obligations to workers. There is also a separate, year-long review of the wages and conditions of overseas workers in Australia under the 417 working visa.
Backpackers are advised not to accept work offered by people approaching them at bus stations or airports, and to be sceptical of questionable job ads.
