Village Support for Seasonal Workers

Carla Chung believes it takes a village to welcome seasonal workers and she’s keen to hear from ‘village leaders’, particularly people active in Catholic parishes in key agriculture areas of Australia.

“Isolation can lead to exploitation and that’s what we want to try and stop happening,” Carla said.

Developing networks to support seasonal workers is one of Carla’s roles as ACRATH’s new Seasonal Worker Support person, a position created after ACRATH received a three-year grant from a Congregation of Catholic Sisters. She’s hit the ground running and has already had great success in Werribee on the outskirts of Melbourne, working with a parish-based group keen to create a support network for more than 80 seasonal workers in the area.

Carla said the hospitality and support shown by parishioners from St Andrew’s Catholic parish in Werribee is a great model for other parishes. The seasonal workers from Timor-Leste attend mass at St Andrew’s and some parishioners are about to set up an English language class to help the men improve their English skills.

“We also used the parish hall to run a Pacific Engagement Visa session to answer questions that workers had about applying for a new visa in the June to August timeframe. Forty-three men came to the session and we were able to answer questions and help them navigate the process,” Carla said.

Carla is in a newly established role at ACRATH, which recognises the increasing issue of labour exploitation, often involving seasonal workers. Carla is promoting seasonal workers’ wellbeing in many ways, including:

• encouraging ACRATH and other volunteer initiatives
• ensuring practical support is provided by relevant agencies
• promoting community links
• assisting with policy development

Carla, from Timor-Leste, came to ACRATH after many years working with seasonal workers with the United Workers Union. She’s convinced that too many seasonal workers coming to Australia, as part of government employment programs, do not have a full understanding of their rights.

“Workers attend briefings in their home country and when they arrive and are told about their job and conditions and are given a lot of other written information, but it is very difficult for people from another country to understand a different culture quickly. And Pacific Islanders and Timorese are from very oral traditions so giving the workers contracts and then later giving them contract variations to sign, is very difficult for them,” Carla said.

Technology makes it easier to reach seasonal workers who have issues. The St Andrews Parish volunteers and the local seasonal workers have set up a WhatsApp group to ensure workers have an ongoing support team.

ACRATH’s years of advocacy, alongside other community organisations, has led to some recent changes to many of the regulations and conditions offered to seasonal workers. Many workers who were on short term contracts of six to 12 months are now offered longer contracts. Workers must also be paid for a minimum of 120 hours over four weeks, ensuring workers access a bare minimum wage.

The importance of community support for seasonal workers was a focus of the recent Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) national conference. Speakers, including ACRATH’s own Peter O’Neill ssc and Christine Carolan, encouraged people across the country to actively support seasonal and migrant workers, particularly those from the Pacific islands and Timor-Leste.

Carla said great support was being offered to seasonal workers from Timor-Leste, Samoa, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Papua New Guinea in communities and parishes all over Australia including Warrnambool, Port Augusta, parts of Queensland, Lilydale and Werribee. But there is more to be done.

“There have been great changes because of advocacy and working together. But there is much more to be done. And we need to ensure that seasonal workers are not isolated because that’s when exploitation can happen,” Carla said.