Two local farmers found to have broken job laws

Council of Trade Union president Helen Kelly

Two Rotorua dairy farmers have broken employment laws in the past couple of years, according to workplace watchdogs.

A trade union leader is citing the breaches as evidence the farming sector needs to be more accountable.

Information released to the Rotorua Daily Post under the Official Information Act showed labour inspectors began investigations at eight Rotorua dairy farms between July 2012 and February this year and found two had breached at least one employment law.

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment labour inspectors brought the operations into compliance during their visit to one of the farms but required the other to make subsequent improvements.

Neither farms required enforcement action.

Federated Farmers Rotorua-Taupo president Alan Wills said some farmers believed there was an overload of compliance on farms but it didn't excuse them from meeting minimum employment standards.

"What you've got to understand is that farmers are running seven-day-a -week businesses," he said. "It's quite a complicated issue for employers to get their heads around all the compliance necessary.

"But yes, there is some work to be done there. Farmers need to be talking to their accountants about getting good computer packages to support them with their record keeping. That's really what it amounts to."

Mr Wills said educating farmers about compliance was key to improving the situation.

"I'd say in a lot of cases it comes down to farmers not quite understanding what's required. Farmers are first and foremost responsible for their own businesses but if [the ministry] are going to take a real interest in what's going on in the farming community, I'd like to think they'd have an education programme before a rigorous inspection programme."

Nationally, 165 farms were found to have made at least one employment law breach between mid-2012 and the end of February this year.

At least one breach was found on 146 of the 321 dairy cattle farms investigated and 19 of the 26 non-dairy farms investigated.

The ministry took enforcement action on 69 farms, farmers voluntarily complied with inspectors in 46 cases and the remainder of breaches were sorted during inspectors' visits.

Council of Trade Union president Helen Kelly said the industry was "out of control and unaccountable".

"These are breaches of the minimum code which shows how many farmers are working on or near the minimum.

"We know that the average hours worked per week are increasing - the average hours working on a dairy farm per week are now 51 - but the wages are decreasing.

"The average pay per hour across all farms is $17.34, which is nothing when you think of all the senior herd managers and other senior roles."

Improving employment standards was in everyone's best interest, she said. NZME