AWU urges shearers to discuss pay, conditions
Posted
The Australian Workers Union (AWU) is encouraging shearers and rural workers across south-east South Australia to attend a meeting in Naracoorte next month.
The meeting is in response to a National Farmers Federation plan to change shearers' pay and conditions, which the union says is unfair.
The AWU's state coordinator for the pastoral industry, Lance Degenhardt, says the union wants to hear from local shearers before it takes its case to the Industrial Relations Commission.
"We've got a draft of what the farmers' federation have put out. Now that makes no reference to shearing whatsoever and this is why we're saying that this award should be a standalone award so shearers are protected with all the rights that were hard fought for many years ago," he said.
