“Labour Day”
Given Monday was Labour Day — and the day after the Labor Party's election win — we figured it was time to chime in to the workforce conversation. In that spirit, here’s our (starting) list of demands:
Growers are workers too. We want a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work. We also want secure jobs with secure pay, and psychological and physical safety at work. Just the basics.
We demand a 38-hour, Monday-to-Friday work week. Public holidays, four weeks’ annual leave, paid overtime, superannuation, paid parental leave, sick leave and carers leave — we’ll take the lot. After all, fair’s fair. And if you are concerned about consumers and food costs escalating – you may have to speak to the buyers of our produce – we’re sure they will be fine to absorb these extra costs.
We demand flexible working arrangements. We would like to work from home.
We demand to be paid for every job we do. Many growers double (and triple) as IR experts, HR managers, finance officers, scientists, environmentalists, pseudo auditors and heads of business development. We look forward to seeing the salary package that recognises that.
We demand retailers stop expecting seven-day-a-week supply as this really throws our 38-hour week. And while you're at it, please coordinate a global consumer behaviour shift so no one expects food 365 days a year. Should be a breeze.
We demand a permanent, reliable Australian farm workforce to do the vital work of our industry. It would make life so much easier. Simple. If this isn’t possible maybe just concentrate on our demand that fruit and veg start self-harvesting. It’s 2025 — surely someone’s figured out how to make produce pick itself, pack itself, and drive to market by now.
Given these are merely the foundation of Australia’s workforce and really should offer no challenge to achieve, we would also like to add a few more.
We demand that pests, diseases, and weeds respect biosecurity protocols. They need to stop freeloading across borders, ignoring quarantine zones, and generally refusing to follow the rules. Enforcement action is long overdue.
We demand retailers provide 12 months’ notice of changing specs — or at least stop pretending a capsicum, lettuce or banana can’t have personality. Produce doesn’t grow to a photoshop brief.
We demand that compliance paperwork fill itself out. Preferably using AI. If this isn’t possible due to it being too complicated for AI – we demand subsidies and reimbursal of growers’ time.
We demand that consumer preferences and consumption stay stable so we can plan our plantings. Please work out how many mangoes and avocados everyone is going to want, at least ten years out.
We demand rain when it’s dry, sun when it’s wet, and no hail or cyclones ever. Its variability is proving rather inconvenient.
Other than that, we are all good, thanks.
