A Better Deal for Seasonal Workers
New guidelines have been established to try and ensure better outcomes for seasonal workers coming to Australia from the Pacific and Timor Leste. Fr Peter O’Neill, Columban Regional Director of Oceania, is ACRATH’s representative on the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme Agriculture Committee. In this Q & A Peter explains how one change relating to minimum working hours will impact seasonal workers.
Q. New guidelines have been established to try and ensure better outcomes for seasonal workers coming to Australia from the Pacific and Timor Leste. The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme Approved Employer Deed and Guidelines set out a range of requirements and regulations that follow years of advocacy by ACRATH and other organisations. What is the change to minimum hours and wages?
A. Presently short-term seasonal workers are to receive a minimum of 30 hours of work per week averaged over the entire work placement (maximum 9 months). Effective from 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2024, they are to receive a minimum of 30 hours of work per week averaged over 4 weeks. Effective from 1 July 2024, they are to receive a minimum of 30 hours of work every week. Previously long term-workers (1-4 years) received a minimum of 30 hours of work per week. Effective from 1 October 2023, they are to receive full time hours.
Effective from 1 October 2023, if workers are offered less than 20 hours of work a week, the employer must pay accommodation and transport costs and the debt cannot be accrued. Employers are to pay PALM workers in line with other workers at the same workplace. There must be a minimum net pay guarantee for all workers after tax and deductions of $200 a week.
Q. How important is this change to a minimum number of hours?
A. This change will better protect the rights of seasonal workers to a more regular and stable income and hopefully prevent workers from disengaging from the program due to a shortage of work.
Q. What will it mean to a seasonal worker?
A. This change will enable workers to have a stable income with enough money to live off each week. It will also enable them to send money to their families on a regular basis.
Q. Are you aware of incidences where seasonal workers have not been given adequate hours and struggle financially?
A. I have met some newly arrived seasonal workers who for several weeks were not given adequate hours of work and struggled financially.
Q. Are women, involved in the seasonal worker program, more vulnerable to exploitation?
A. Women who are pregnant are vulnerable to being sent home if they are unable to work.
Q. In terms of wages for seasonal workers, is there still a way to go?
A. There have been huge improvements in the PALM Deed and Guidelines to better protect the wages of seasonal workers. There needs to be ongoing monitoring by the government to ensure that all approved employers are abiding by the deeds and guidelines. Otherwise, unscrupulous employers will be left unaccounted for.
