The dairy industry wants to scrap the minimum three hour shift for workers and reduce penalties for Sunday work.
President of Australian Dairy Farmers, Noel Campbell, wants milking listed as an essential service, which would mean farmers would not have to pay double time on Sundays.
He says farmers need more flexibility because of the nature of the industry.
«On a dairy farm there are situations when people bring people in to milk, might take an hour and a half. That happens twice a day, so someone actually been actively employed for three hours but has to be paid for six hours,» he said.
But assistant Victorian branch secretary with the National Union of Workers, Gary Maas, wants to see these minimum standards maintained and claims the pressure to lower working conditions is coming from the retailers, not farmers.
«The price of milk needs to increase to ensure that every worker who has contributed to that supply of milk has been looked after,» he said.
Dairy workers employed to milk cows have their wages and conditions set under the 2010 Pastoral Award created under the Fair Work Act.
According to the ADF, wages are about $20 an hour for casual staff, rising to $40 an hour on Sunday.
When the Federal Opposition released its industrial relations policy last week, Tony Abbott pledged no changes to set penalty rates in the first term of a Coalition government.
«We will retain and improve the Fair Work Act; we want to protect workers’ pay and conditions; we also want to maximise their opportunities to get good jobs,» he said.
Despite Mr Abbott’s comments, Mr Campbell says he still hopes the Coalition will consider the changes if it forms government later in the year.
Mr Campbell says the industry will be lobbying both major political parties to commit to the changes ahead of the September election.
Source: ABC
