Harvest trail campaign

In August 2013 we started a 3 year campaign to help employers and employees working on the Harvest trail to understand their rights and obligations at work.

Every year seasonal harvest workers follow the Harvest Trail of ripening fruit, vegetables and other crops around Australia. From January grape picking in the Hunter Valley to autumn apples in Tasmania, October mangoes in the Northern Territory and cherries at Christmas time. The horticulture and viticulture industries employ many travellers and seasoned harvesters.

Why the Harvest trail?

Our experience of working with employers and employees in the horticulture industry has shown there is often:

• confusion about employer obligations, including how to use piece rate agreements
• a lack of understanding about grower’s obligations when using a labour hire service.

What are we doing about it?

From tomatoes in northern Queensland to strawberries in Victoria and cucumbers in Western Australia we’re talking to growers and workers about:

• minimum wages and conditions, including piece rates
• record keeping and pay slips
• labour hire and supply chain issues.

Our campaign isn’t just about auditing growers. We want to find out what’s happening out there and what problems growers face when dealing with workplace laws.

We’ll be visiting and revisiting growing regions during the campaign and working with industry associations to build ongoing relationships. - Find out more information on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.