Australia's shearing contractors are being surveyed about setting viable above-award rates for their experienced shearers and shedhands as the Australian Workers Union also calls for a lift in shearer pays.

Due to COVID-19 New Zealand worker and interstate travel restrictions, Australian shearers are being lured from contractor teams with offers of up to $6-$7-plus cash to shear sheep, with “tucker thrown in”.

The pay offers are sometimes more than double the national pastoral award rate of around $3.25/sheep and contrast to a contractor’s rate to producers, including payment of shed hands, classer, and cook, WorkCover, insurance and GST, of close to $9 per sheep.

Shearing Contractors of Association of Australia secretary Jason Letchford said the SCAA is circulating a survey about setting a recommended “viable” above-award rate for experienced employees of association members.

“It would be a recommendation and certainly not a legally binding agreement like an enterprise bargaining agreement or similar, but would be above the award.

“So indirectly we are not against seeing our workforce being paid more.”

No evidence linking low shearing rates with NZ workers

Mr Letchford said there was no evidence that farmers had been able to get away with paying lower pay rates to shearers due to the estimated 500 New Zealand workers that work in Australian wool sheds each year, as claimed by the AWU.

“I completely categorically refute that.

“There is absolutely no evidence of any under-award payments, and if so we have a robust industrial relations system that has always successfully stamped out any such behaviour.”

But Mr Letchford welcomed the AWU’s statement that the award rates for shearers should increase.

“I welcome that because the industry needs their presence.”

He said the pendulum has swung too far from what was once a unionised shearer workforce and the industry was reaping the consequences in terms of workplace conditions, safety and standards.

“The union has always been the underwriter of standards and worker health and safety.”

But although he recognised that the philosophies of SCAA and the AWU were aligning, Mr Letchford said it would be very difficult  for the AWU to get a shearing rate increase from the Fair Work Commission because it would need to be justified on the grounds of a productivity and cost of living increases.

Mr Letchford said the current award rates were failing the industry on worker retention, but were not the “silver bullet” and the industry needed to also attract learners and train them to increase the supply of workers. The SCAA would welcome a mandated trainee ratio in sheds, as suggested by the AWU. He said award was not there to regulate training, but people need to be encouraged to invest in trainees.

“We all know that we need more learners.”

But the SCAA did not want to see any increase in the cost of learners to its members.

“And the entrance level of pay being $1200 a week as a minimum is certainly an attractive proposition to get people to come and learn in the industry.”