Shearers get second cut at increase

Press, 10 May 1984, Page 23

Shearers get second cut at increase

By

the farm editor

Open-shed shearers who, by nature of their employment as piece workers for more than one employer during a week, have found themselves in a favoured position regarding the recent cost of living wage and salary increase. Employers, in this case farmers who make agreements with open-shed shearers to have sheep shorn or crutched, are required to pay the cost of living allowance to each shearer who works for them during the week.

As most of these shearers will work for more than one employer during the week, they will collect more than one allowance.

They are entitled to do so, the Christchurch office of the Department of Labour has advised.

Seeing themselves caught in the position, collectively, of having to pay more than one cost of living allowance to one worker during a week, farmers have sought clarification through their Sheepowners’ Industrial Union of Employers. The Sheepowners’ Union represents meat and wool farmers in industrial matters.

Advice has been received by the Sheepowners’ Union that shearers have been placed in this privileged position by the combination of their award, the Shearers’

and Shedhands’ Award, and the latest Economic Stabilisation (cost of living allowance) Regulations, 1984. The award clearly establishes shearers as piece workers.

The 1984 regulations say that piece workers who earn more than $l6O from one employer during the week must be paid the full $8 cost of living allowance. If they earn less than $l6O then an additional 5 cents per dollar must be added to their earnings.

Open-shed shearers will probably work for more than one employer during a working week and the regulations place the onus on each employer to pay either the full $8 allowance or a fraction based on the 5c per dollar rate.

The allowance is not part of the worker’s ordinary time rate remuneration and is not to be taken into account when calculating any other additional payments, such as overtime. But it is included as weekly earnings for calculating annual holiday pay and tax. It must be shown separately on pay slips from ordinary earnings. The South Island secretary of the Workers’ Union, Mr Trevor Weame, said this week that the same situation occurred in 1976 when there was a $7 per week flat rate national wage increase.

At that time the union obtained a ruling that shearers who worked for more than one employer during; the week were entitled to the $7 in each case. A circular to North Canterbury farmers distributed by the Sheepowners’ Union last week summarised the effects of the cost of living allowance regulations.

“There is no provision in the regulations for an additional payment to contractors or open-shed shearers for an increase in the rate paid per 100 sheep shorn,” said the circular, signed by Mr C. E. Grigg, a union council member.

“However, if calculated on the award basis of 900 sheep per week, the cost of living increase could equate to 88 cents per 100 sheep shorn or 30 cents per 100 sheep crutched.”

Mr Weame said that the Workers’ Union would stoutly resist, on behalf of its members, any attempt to incorporate the allowance as an increase on the per 100 sheep rates. “That is clearly outside the cost of living allowance regulations,” he said.

“It amazes me how people will run around to try and find ways out of paying the full allowance. “Very few shearers would regularly do 900 sheep per week. If they do less than

900, a lift such as suggested in the per 100 rate would give them less than the $8 per week increase they are entitled to,” he said.

Therefore the union remained adamant that each farmer employing open-shed shearers during a week was required to pay the cost of living allowance. Mr D. Postlethwaite, of the Department of Labour in Christchurch, confirmed that this was the case under the regulations. The position of shearing contractors is less clear. The Department of Labour said that if the contractor was to be regarded as the primary employer then he would be obliged to pay each of his workers the allowance. Collectively farmers would be better off because each worker would be getting only one allowance per week. But some contractors have indicated that they require more than 88c per 100 sheep increase in their contracted rates in order to pay shearers and follow-on workers. Farmers have objected to this also as possibly being more than the $8 per week per worker they are legally required to pay. Moreover the Workers’ Union has said it does not regard the shearing contractors as sole primary employers and has always considered farmers, through the

Sheepowners’ Union, as the employers in any industrial negotiations involving workers who are attached to contractors. In Canterbury this is the case with about 70 per cent of Workers’ Union members.

So farmers could find themselves being cited in union actions against contractors not paying the full cost of living allowance.

The confusion surrounding the position of contractors has meant that some workers have not yet received the allowance, which was payable from April 1.

However one major contractor, Mr Don Toshach, of Rangiora, confirmed this week that he and some of his fellow contractors were paying the increase to all workers.

He was also paying the allowance to any outside shearers whom he had to employ for a short period, usually less than a week, when there was plenty of work to be done.

He was quoting an extra $1.50 per 100 sheep shorn in his contracting rate to farmers to try and recoup the cost of living allowances to shearers and follow-on workers and the extra secretarial work involved in keeping track of weeks and parts of weeks worked by his many employees. As the

payment basis hitherto had been tallies, keeping track of work periods for payment of the new allowance was extra.

Mr Toshach said that his rates had remained static for two years during the wage and price freeze. He did not believe he was required to get Government Departmental approval to increase by $1.50 per 100 now.

If during a working week shortened by rain his shearers did the sheep of only one farmer, he would not recover the cost of living payments out of his contracting rate increase. He believed that many open-shed shearers would also quote an increase of $1.50 per 100 sheep to farmers instead of insisting on the $8 or part thereof from each employer.

But he could see the potential for these shearers to get four or five times the $8 allowance in one week, particularly during the crutching season. Shearers, in contractors’ gangs would be annoyed that those outside were getting more. He said the cost of living increase regulations had created a great deal of extra work and confusion in the shearing industry. This would only get worse if more flat rate national wage increases were granted by the Government.