The situation of woolgrowers having to pay above award rates is a completely commercial arrangement between the woolgrower and shearers or shearing contractors.
Peak woolgrower representative body, WoolProducers Australia (WoolProducers) has clarified there has been no official increase in the award for shearers and shed hands.
This follows the non-binding recommendation of the Shearing Contractors Association of Australia to their members of a 15% increase in the pay rate for a 60-day period.
WoolProducers CEO, Ms Jo Hall said, “As has been widely reported, parts of Australia are experiencing a significant shortage in shearers at the moment, which in turn has seen above award rates being paid to secure shearers”.
The Fair Work Commission is the relevant body responsible for changes to any award and has a standard process which must be followed to apply for changes.
Ms Hall said, “The current situation of woolgrowers having to pay above award rates is a completely commercial arrangement between the woolgrower and shearers or shearing contractors but there is no legal obligation for growers to be paying above the award”.
“However, unfortunately for growers there are simply not enough shearers to do the job at this point in time and as with any supply and demand situation, the market must pay what is required to get the job done.” Ms Hall said.
WoolProducers are coordinating efforts with relevant industry stakeholders at a national level and have been working constructively with the SCAA, Western Australian Shearing Industry Association, National Farmers Federation, Australian Wool Innovation and shearer trainers to work on medium- and longer-term strategies to address attraction and retention issues in the wool harvesting sector.
-Wool Producers