Bosses Must Pay The Price For Staff

In The Weekly Times , 11 July 2007, AWU National Secretary Bill Shorten argues that a freeze on wages for farm workers will harm, not help, the agriculture sector.

ONCE again, the National Farmers' Federation has shown it is hopelessly out of touch.

Last week in The Weekly Times NFF president David Crombie was rightly concerned about the skills shortage in the bush. He estimated another 50,000 workers would be needed as the drought recedes.

Yet when the Australian Fair Pay Commission decided to allow farmers receiving an Exceptional Circumstances Interest Rate Subsidy a 12- month exemption from paying workers an extra $10.26 a week, Mr Crombie could barely contain his glee.

It's indeeed an achievement of which to be proud: It's one of the first wage freezes since the time of Malcolm Fraser, and relegates thousands of bush workers to second-class citizenship.

The Australian Workers' Union is horrified enough at the measly sum, but for some workers not to get it at all is devastating.

No one suggests farmers receiving EC shouldn't pay other bills associated with their business, so why is their wages bill any different?

Sadly, few young people are entering the agricultural sector as a vocation, and it's not just fear of drought that stops them.

Agriculture workers are, on average, Australia's lowest-paid workers, with full-time median weekly earnings about a third less than other full-time workers.

The mining boom is attracting workers from all over regional Australia. Who can blame them for wanting to go from the bottom of the earnings rung to near the top?

The bush is going to miss them once the drought is over.

In order to attract and keep young, skilled workers, wages, conditions and farm safety have to improve.

The NFF's short-sighted approach does its membership no service.

Everything it does -- pushing for a wage freeze, lobbying for foreign guest workers, backing WorkChoices -- it does for one reason: to keep wages as low as they can go.

The NFF should be worried about the shortage of workers. But by pushing knee-jerk, short-term policies it should also take a good measure of responsibility for it.

If the farm sector really wants to learn how to manage its workforce, it needs to look to the Australian Farm Institute, which takes a sensible, long-term view of the industry.

The farm labour force is a mass of individuals, often employed on piecework or short-term rates, often unskilled or semi-skilled, with little career structure or chance to increase their skills.

But the AFI says this disparate workforce can be brought into the 21st century by working collaboratively with unions and other stakeholders.

It suggests professionalising the workforce, through a Certified Australian Farm Employer Scheme.

Increasing skills and capabilities at all levels recognises not just the increasing size and complexities of farm businesses, but also that the cyclical and seasonal nature of farming needs a flexible, skilled workforce.

Compare this with the NFF, which sees workers as a drain on resources, instead of part of the solution.

If the NFF really is "the voice of Australian farmers", it must use this voice for something other than whining about worker shortages while crowing about the pay decision.

Farm work has many attractions, but pay isn't one of them. Many people like to work in the fresh, open air, but no one can live on this alone.