Welcome to the gang Gonwanda, enjoy here and out in the playground.

I have friends that gave it a go when in their 50's but lasted one week. They were treated like dirt and had to w..k (nope, still can't say that word) way too hard because the younger ones bludged.

Me, After many many moons of very long hours I can't even say that W word now without risking a major heart attack.




Keep Safe out there.

Oops, would that be a little whinge from Mr Harding? Not THE Mike Harding of Rochdale fame I presume . . .

You need to be in good physical condition.

Difficulty can depends on what your picking and if a ladder is required. It is mostly hot and humid around the trees so if you can handle that then you can still earn a few bucks. 

There are other jobs like tractor work and the packing shed. I would think that unless they are desperate for workers if l walked up l don't think they would give me a job anyway.

Stretch

Depends if your have done hard work before, we did orange picking over 13 years ago last big dry, my wife was 60 i was 56 it was heavy work and we were fit we did 6 boxes of oranges a day between us, a young 27 year old was doing 8 on his own and he told us he was slowing up , also told me is best wage for a year was $75000, not all orchards are good for picking ,also harvest contractors don't want you if you don't need transport or accommodation ,they cant screw you as easy on wages

Just what we found when we did it, glad i was not trying to make a living ,

The ATO deems accommodation and transport as a part of your income. So be careful. Caveat- this was the case and recent communications with a federal MP raised the subject again. If you are retired and thinking of this sort of work be aware of the implications to pensions etc.

We once grew strawberries. 60000 plants. If anyone thinks that you can pay that sort of money to a picker and make a profit from $1 a punnet then I can tell you where the tooth fairy is hiding. Think very hard before believing anything you see or hear from the media. That includes both left and right leaning media.

Whenarewethere wrote:

---

Other half did it briefly many decades ago. It is very hard work usually with poor postures.

I think at the rate I could pick I would own them money.

---

in my back packer days and much younger I could just make enough to cover my food an drink bill working from early morning to late afternoon

You guys once again missed my point. Sky had a particular message to get across. That is, OPEN THE INTERNATIONAL BORDERS and employ workers who will put up with sub standard pay because Australians won"t. Of course the pay stated is BS. I would think that harvest work is not suited to most workers. Travelling all over the country, uncertain, part time? How could you bring up a family and live a normal life under those conditions. If the general population earned that, then we would all be rich.

-- Edited by msg on Tuesday 8th of September 2020 10:33:26 AM

msg wrote

---

Sky had a particular message to get across. That is, OPEN THE INTERNATIONAL BORDERS and employ workers who will put up with sub standard pay because Australians won"t. Of course the pay stated is BS. I would think that harvest work is not suited to most workers. Travelling all over the country, uncertain, part time? How could you bring up a family and live a normal life under those conditions.

---

The original story I read, a couple of weeks ago "somewhere" was basically saying (as Mike Harding) noted, there used to be / were (are? / maybe will be?) chartered flights from Indonesia and the Pacific Islands. The guys come over for a 6 month stint and get moved around as needed. I have no doubt they got shafted by the "harvest contractor" for all the "costs" but the gist of the story was that minimum pay WAS being paid by the producer (- and probably fiddled away by the middlemen). However, from the initial look of these things, all the rules were being abided by.

Maybe the workers were being put up in sheds and being charged back at an extortionate rate for their accommodation, food and transport. That would certainly make it look like higher rates were being paid (on paper).

The backpackers and students however supposedly wouldn't work as hard and were being underpaid with no deductions or workcover rights. Ergo from the big picture, it looked like everybody was happy with the productivity, pay rates and tax paid for the dedicated seasonal migrants. That's why I wanted to canvas opinions from people who may know better than me (almost everybody).

Aus-Kiwi wrote:

---

C19 and being TAXED on income doesnt Help ! They would be lucky to earn enough to pay tax ?

---

i may be wrong but i think i read that the overseas ones get taxed from dollar 1 no $18200 tax free

in the UK they bring them in from eastern Europe by the bus load to harvest the crops

Mike Harding wrote:

---

It is hard work but in my long experience of working for money... there's nowt for nowt.

Due to the covid thing I have spent about five months of this years camped on the Murray River near Robinvale, NW Victoria and I can assure you that despite the larger towns of Swan Hill and Mildura being about one hour's drive the vast majority of local labour is temporary overseas workers mostly from the Pacific islands, Malaysia and Oriental looking people. These workers are in sufficient number that the local IGA has a large section devoted to food groups preferred by these cultures.

It seems native Australians are not too keen when the work gets a bit tough.

---

 Robinvale is a huge eye opener!!

I did a stint when l was 18 ( 1978 ,,,, sigh .... ) , up at Mooroopna picking apples , good hard work , but yeah at 18 and just a working holiday, it was just beer money for us lol
Watching 7.30 on the ABC tonight a strawberry grower even said he wouldn't do it for the money , jobkeeper pays the same , and your not bending over all day in the heat and rain ..... not for us oldies , we wouldn't earn enough for the pain involved lol

-- Edited by kesa32 on Tuesday 8th of September 2020 08:12:44 PM

kesa32 wrote:

---

Watching 7.30 on the ABC tonight a strawberry grower even said he wouldn't do it for the money , jobkeeper pays the same , and your not bending over all day in the heat and rain ..... not for us oldies

---

 Picking those strawberries was an OH&S issue. Simple!

My back would be gone in 2 minutes & knees about 4 minutes. It is absurd that such a posture is even considered acceptable in any workplace.

Yes, it's hard yacka but a lot of younger Aussies are too willing to lap up the free Job Seeker funds while it lasts.
In my younger days, I cut apricots - so they were ready for drying. Working in a tin shed with poor ventilation, no drinking water on hand in the Upper Murray area was not pleasant. Sure it was not back breaking work but when the outside temp was over 40 degrees, it was VERY uncomfortable!
I recall the pay rate was something like two shillings a tray - I earned enough to buy my kitbag to head into high school + something a little bit more.

Lots of businesses here in Townsville are suffering being short staffed while the unemployment rate is over 12% & the work is inside in airconditioning!