Farm Workers wages set - will it help?

[Redneck]

The Fair Work Commission says workers on farms must be paid a minimum $25.41 per hour from April 28, while this sounds good, will it help as the industry is rife with rip offs such as farmers providing vastly overpriced accommodation charges with workers living in sheds.

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For the first time workers on Australian farms will be guaranteed a minimum rate of pay when changes to the Horticulture Award come into effect on April 28.

A piece rate is when a worker is paid according to the amount of produce they harvest — so the more fruit or vegetables harvested the more a worker is paid.

Farm groups argued before the commission that the introduction of a floor price would discourage productivity and would see the most productive workers leave the industry.

But in its final decision, the commission described those assertions as "speculative and unsupported by any evidence".

The commission was scathing as it responded to one farm business, which had contested paying the award's conditions, by stating its submission demonstrated "a lack of awareness of the existing award obligations".

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022- ... /100796448