‘Theft’ leads to shearers’ collective
Shearing contractors who manipulate their employees’ wages to undercut rival companies may soon be bound by the industry’s first collective agreement in 24 years.
An investigation in 2016 resulted in fines for 10 central North Island contractors who were breaking employment laws, including a widespread lack of employment agreements, inadequate timekeeping records, and failing to pay workers for public holidays under the provisions of the Holidays Act.
Manawatu¯ Shearing owner Tony Kendrick is the first to start negotiations with First Union. He said he expected the agreement to put contractors across the country on the same playing field.
The push for a collective agreement came after a complaint by a shearing worker to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment about their team working on Queen’s Birthday and not being paid the proper public holiday pay. An investigation found that most contractors across the country were taxing their staff as ‘‘casuals’’, which was wrong because most were permanent or fixed-term, seasonal workers.
There were also wage discrepancies, with some not paying the rates recommended by the New Zealand Shearing Contractors Association. This meant contractors could undercut their rivals and steal business.
‘‘No one contractor could be singled out, as the whole industry was flying well under the radar,’’ said Jills Angus Burney, a former shearing champion who is now a lawyer consulting for First Union. ‘‘The rates vary so much that contractors are actually using the workers’ wages to negotiate down the farmers’ costs.’’
Australia has a federal pay structure, including superannuation, which New Zealand does not.
Angus Burney recalled a case she worked on in 2009, where a South Island contractor had declared his workers self-employed. A court ruling found that he was an employer, and he was subsequently bankrupted unpaid taxes totalling million.
Last year, a Manawatu¯ shearer was paid four different rates by contractors in Feilding and Taihape.
‘‘The fourth contractor can undercut all the others in the same district by up to 50 cents per sheep.
‘‘That’s an example of illegal conduct and wage theft.’’
Kendrick said contractors dealt with fine margins, and a way to undercut competitors was to manipulate employees’ wages. for $3.5