Horticulture award changes commence 28 April 2022

Fruit Growers Tasmania | Wednesday, 2 February 2022, 9.00am

The final decision of the Fair Work Commission was published on 1 February, announcing that the changes to the operation of piece rates, and the introduction of a minimum hourly rate will take effect from 28 April 2022.

While an operative date of 1 July 2022 was sought by Fruit Growers Tasmania and other employer groups, a 28 April date will give growers some time to prepare and also come after a significant part of the Tasmanian fruit harvest has been completed. It is certainly an improvement on the 1 January 2022 operative date requested by the union parties.

Some other sensible practicable changes have been made in the final decision, but undoubtedly the fundamental changes to the Horticulture Award remain.

The main changes in the final decision are as follows.

A concept of “average productivity of competent workers” has been included.

A pieceworker working at the average productivity of a competent worker will earn at least 15% above the relevant minimum hourly rate.
Average productivity of a competent pieceworker is calculated “over a period”, but there is NO definition of a period.
The Commission does not propose to fix a method for calculating piece rates in the Award.
The Commission encourages industry bodies to develop guidance on setting compliant piece rates – but what is compliant is not completely clear.

It is now specifically clarified that the minimum hourly rate for a pieceworker:

must be paid for each DAY on which they work (not hourly as originally proposed but not over a pay period as FGT proposed); and
is 25% above the minimum stated in the Award for casual worker only (not any worker).

A competent pieceworker has been changed to one who has 76 hours of relevant experience (not 2 weeks as originally proposed) but includes relevant experience with previous employers.

Proof of previous experience can be in the form of piecework agreements/employee records.