Agricultural Labour in Australia: The Way Forward
27/01/2022
Giacomo Bianchino
In the last three articles, we have examined the reasons for the horrendous treatment of farmworkers in Australia. We’ve also looked, however, at one attempt to fix the situation: the agricultural visa. We should be sceptical of reforms effected by parties who are interested in extending exploitation. We should also be realistic about the limits of legislative change which remain within the status quo of Australian labour relations. Lasting solutions do not come from handshakes between governing officials and employers; they are always prised from the hand of the bourgeoisie by popular movements.
Since at least 2015, there have been attempts at all levels of society to improve the situation of farmworkers. In what follows, we assess developments in three fields: government, “civil society” and the labour movement.
Governmental Reform
In 2014-2015, a series of journalistic expositions revealed the extent of migrant labour exploitation in Australian retail [1]. This was expanded soon after to include the treatment of migrant workers on farms [2]. The flurry of interest in the treatment of vulnerable workers made its way to the level of federal government. In 2016, the government passed a “Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers)” act, which introduced categories of “serious contraventions” and increased penalties for those who breached record-keeping and pay-slip obligations. It also expanded the Fair Work Ombudsman’s informational powers.
This quick fix was complemented by the convening of a “Migrant Workers’ Taskforce” to examine the level of abuse and possible modes of redress to the issue. The taskforce, chaired by Professor Alan Fels and David Cousins, met periodically for two years. In 2018 they released a report which detailed 22 recommendations for fixing the problem [3]. These included an anonymous reporting tool for the FWO for vulnerable workers to come forward in whichever language was comfortable for them, and an inter-agency assurance protocol protecting reporters from visa cancellation (if they were in breach of visa conditions). Both of these were adopted by the FWO in some measure
As might be expected for a parliamentary commission working within the bounds of the Fair Work Commission, the 22 recommendations were not very radical. They suggested the implementation of criminal sanctions for serious breaches, the inclusion of an enforcement provision in the Fair Work Act 2009 and the amendment of legislation to clarify that all workers in Australia were entitled to the same rights. Also suggested were informational measures, like requiring educational institutions to provide knowledge of workplace rights to incoming international students.
The report contained several glaring omissions. The ACTU claimed that it fully ignored the role of unions in the process. Fels and Cousins, in a 2019 report on the work of the MWTF, indeed claimed that “short-term employees and contractors often do not see significant benefits of union membership.” There were also very few provisions for the circulation of information about rights to incoming workers in the agricultural sector.
The government welcomed the report in 2018 and accepted all recommendations “in principle". It put aside 14.4 million dollars for the FWO to focus on migrant workers, including a National Labour Hire Registration Scheme to monitor dodgy contractors. It also committed 10.8 million dollars to enhance the FW’s capacity for investigations.
Ultimately, no amount of governmental reform or legal activism is capable of providing a lasting solution for farmworkers. From the permanent residents and citizens who work on the Coffs Harbour plantations to the undocumented workers picking potatoes in Queensland, the only vehicles for real change are organisation and solidarity.
Despite this, most of the recommendations have still never seen the light of day. The NLHRS is, according to the government, still on its way. The FWO prosecuted a number of cases, but too few people know about the initiative to take advantage of it. As for the other recommendations, Professor Fels revealed in a private email that they were lost in the process of arbitration between the government and the ACTU over 2020’s Omnibus Industrial Relations Bill. A set of recommendations which hobbled into the light on the back of a disempowered committee simply vanished with the dross of bureaucratic negotiation.
Civil Society
The inadequacy of the governmental approach has led to a number of civil society groups taking up the slack with farmworker rights. One example is religious formations. Some churches, like the Baptists and Methodists in the Pacific Islander community, have collaborated with labour organisations to reach individuals employed in remote areas. It is difficult to gauge the success of these initiatives, but it is certainly the case that these institutions represent an important point of access to workers.
Another kind of mobilisation has taken place through the media, both social and general. Workers from the Pacific have been self-organising for years through online community groups. The “Seasonal Workers Vanuatu” page, for instance, provides advice on immigration, work opportunities and living in Australia. Other organisations have also tried to access the group to share more concrete information on work rights. The group is, however, administered by people with close ties to contractors. In fact, most of these online communities are either run by government officials or labour hire intermediaries themselves; which provides a huge obstacle to organising within them.
A post in the “Seasonal Workers Vanuatu” Facebook group. This post talks about how people who absconded were promised that they could work 50 hours, but were only paid $23 per hour after the 39 regular hours worked. Rather than receive overtime, wages for further work was docked.
In terms of media coverage, we’ve already mentioned the Four Corners episodes among a spate of other journalistic coverage of the problems. More interestingly, some advocates have started to use radio to considerable effect. SBS’ different language broadcasts are often the only form of media that is accessible to migrant workers. It is an invaluable resource, and one whose potential must be explored.
The other major source of civil society farmworker organisation has come from community legal centres. This year (2021), the Redfern, Kingsford and the Inner City Legal Centres came together to form the Employment Rights Legal Service. This service provides legal advice to vulnerable workers in both urban and regional areas.
According to Sharmilla Bargon, who works as a lawyer with the ERLS, it is supposed to supplement gaps in the representation of the Fair Work Ombudsman and the union movement. “I believe in the power of unions”, she tells the Militant. “They have their place and the CLCs play a different role.” This role is to provide advice on visa exposure for people who fear they might be deported, addressing problems of underpayment and sham contracting. Usually, they are groups who are either afraid to unionise or unable to because of legal restrictions. Many of these people have rights that they don’t realise exist; ERLS is able to give information and representation to ensure that these rights are respected.
The ERLS is also committed to fighting for reform. They draft legislative reforms, send letters to MPs and “mobilise a network of volunteer pro-bono expertise.” They have had certain success through this method, such as the drafting of legislation for protection of religious freedoms at work.
The Labour Movement
Ultimately, no amount of governmental reform or legal activism is capable of providing a lasting solution for farmworkers. From the permanent residents and citizens who work on the Coffs Harbour plantations to the undocumented workers picking potatoes in Queensland, the only vehicles for real change are organisation and solidarity.
Farmworkers in Australia in 2022 are, for the most part, thoroughly disorganised. The Australian Workers’ Union has traditionally organised parts of the agricultural proletariat. Because of the predominance of farmer-operator models of production in the latter parts of the 20th century, however, such a class was not significant in the industry. It is only in the 20-25 years since deregulation, as examined in earlier articles, that a real agricultural proletariat re-emerged in Australia.
Last year, the AWU collaborated with community legal groups in Queensland and, through negotiations and job actions, effectively abolished the use of piece rates in Australian agriculture [4]. After receiving a claim from the AWU about paying workers below the minimum hourly rate when working for piece wages, the Fair Work Commission ruled that this was, in fact, illegal. Not being able to pay less than minimum wage disincentivises employers from using piece rates at all; as this would now amount to always having to pay the minimum, but sometimes having to pay even more. As detailed below there is still room for flouting the proper treatment of agricultural workers; but the use of piece rates as a legal technique of super-exploitation is now consigned to history.
In 2015, the National Union of Workers took over from the AWU in Victoria and South Australia. Through their operations, they were able to gain some serious improvements for farmworkers. Large employers like Costa and Select have signed enterprise agreements with their workers [5]. More importantly, the sheer presence of unions in the sector has led to a rise in the minimum wage and a greater respect for established conditions. The UWU has also provided resources for the organisation of workers off the farm. They have put together their own legal service and have been agitating for visa reform to protect migrant workers in Australia.
Even more promisingly, their work with unions like the Vanuatu National Workers Union is one of the most promising examples of international working-class solidarity operating in Australia today. The idea of unions collaborating to ensure the rights of migrant workers prevents the governments or capitalists on one side from undoing the advances made on the other. Vigilance of the VNWU over blacklisting workers who organise in Australia, for instance, removes a disincentive for migrant labourers to join their local union.
The successes of the UWU and their collaboration with the VNWU teach an important lesson. The problem is not with temporary migrant labour itself. The problems associated with this kind of labour (negative pressure on local wages, poor development outcomes for the sender country) are symptoms of inadequate organisation. The labour movement in Australia strengthens itself where it ensures that migrant workers can come here and be guaranteed high Australian wages, unionisation and protection from dodgy contractors.
Unions, then, should be fighting for the right to oversee migrant labour arrangements, providing information to new arrivals and supporting them for the length of their stay.
Communists and Farmworkers
The farmworker struggle in Australia should be of central importance to its communist movement. Here is a group of workers whose disorganisation creates vile outcomes for the workers on the farm and across the economy. Furthermore, this group plays a central role in Australian production, and wields significant power. Recent disruptions of the supply chain in Australia show the direct effects of intervening in the passage from farm to table; as consumers struggle to get basic supplies and are forced to rely on expensive local providers. The origins of this crisis are in the workforce withholding their labour unwillingly due to COVID infection. The place of farmworkers in the supply chain means that any action taken will be felt by all of society; but it also provides possibilities for action that lie anywhere from the point of production to the point of realisation. As a tool, the farmworker strike is nearly without comparison in terms of the kind of consequences it would have for the weakening of capital.
Though it is heartening to see the unions taking notice of the needs of the agricultural proletariat, there are impediments to their program. The economic struggle between capital and labour can only take a movement so far. There are harsh conditions for labour organising in Australia; and three decades of contraction has produced a union leadership unwilling to spend resources on groups whose membership it can’t guarantee. Indeed, the UWU’s farmworker section has hitherto been confined to Victoria and SA, while in NSW hardly a finger has been lifted.
The communist movement should not only step into the gaps left by union, civil society and governmental action. There is a growing consciousness among migrant workers about their power and rights in Australia. Group Forums like the “Seasonal Workers Vanuatu” page are host to long discussions about the consequences and appropriateness of absconding; and the rates of exploitation in the country. With their unique grasp of the causes of the problem, communists should help build this knowledge into power. CUDL has already begun its informational campaign, but ultimately communists will have to “take to the fields” and begin to mobilise in the regional areas.
The Left in Australia has, in the past, been firm in its internationalism. In recent years the anti-war movement and refugee-rights campaign have galvanised a generation of young activists. With the farmworkers, we have the possibility of forging a fighting force against capital both here and in the countries from which our farmworkers come.
Whatever shape the campaign takes, one thing is clear. While heinous exploitation, bordering on slavery, exists in our country, we cannot ignore it and still call ourselves Communists.
References:
[1] https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2015/7-eleven-revealed/
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjJDCFZziYU&ab_channel=AustralianPerspective.
[3] https://www.ag.gov.au/industrial-relations/publications/report-migrant-workers-taskforce
[4] https://theconversation.com/closing-the-loophole-a-minimum-wage-for-australias-farm-workers-is-long-overdue-171291#:~:text=The%20Fair%20Work%20Commission's%20ruling,be%20paid%20a%20minimum%20wage
[5] Rosewarne, S. “The Making of the Agricultural Industry's Temporary Migrant Workforce: Beyond Explotiative Experiences?” Journal of Australian Political Economy, 18, 2019, 199