Poultry industry union delegates in the National Union of Workers (NUW) and supporters met on March 27 to launch a report outlining the basis for the union’s “Better Jobs 4 Better Chicken” campaign.
Late last year, NUW members at Baiada Poultry took strike action over conditions of employment and wages, citing widespread use of cash-in-hand work at rates well below the minimum wage.
A problem the report identifies across the poultry industry is precarious and insecure work, due to “sham contracting”. In sham contracting, a company engages a contractor to supply labour. The contractor then recruits labour who are hired as independent contractors themselves.
The report says: “Most sham contractors are rightfully afraid that they will lose their jobs if they come forward and report. The ease with which a company can be wound up and a new company started makes that vulnerability all the more real.”
People in vulnerable situations, such as student visa holders and recent and illegal immigrants are most at risk. The lack of rights to secure work means that safety and food quality standards are put at risk.
Eyewitness accounts from workers, many anonymous, include ghastly accounts of returned chicken being sent back out as fresh chicken, people starting work without any training in health, safety or basic work procedures, underpayment and serious injury, such as the decapitation of a worker at Baiada Poultry in 2010.
The paper outlines five key steps to clean up the industry. These include:
• Ban contractors and regulate labour hire practices.
• Ease restrictions on the working hours of student visa holders to enable them to work legally.
• An amnesty from deportation to migrants working illegally who report employer breaches.
