That includes inhaling an intense chemical stench after spraying at the farm. It was particularly strong as they knelt down to pick tomatoes. ''It was really hard to breath it in, especially when we start picking,'' Ms Roqara said. ''I got chest pains and others (workers) got bleeding from the nose and the ears.'' After five months of working seven days a week, Ms Roqara will return to Vanuatu with close to nothing. Credit:Eddie Jim The federal government-run Seasonal Worker Programme is supposed to be part of Australia’s outreach to the region. Farms get access to a reliable pool of labour and workers from the Pacific and Timor-Leste earn award wages far beyond what they could make at home.

That’s how it’s supposed to work. But these workers, from Vanuatu, brought here under the scheme by one of Australia’s biggest rural labour hire providers, the Brisbane-based Agri Labour Australia, to work at the MCG Fresh Produce farm at Tatura, west of Shepparton, say they were sorely misled, underpaid and threatened when they tried to join a union. When they complained about the bleeding they were told by an Agri Labour supervisor to keep working and to use vaseline and cotton to stop the bleeding, documents lodged with the Fair Work Commission allege. Ms Roqara, centre, at a meeting with other workers from Vanuatu, who have come to Australia under the government-run Seasonal Worker Programme. Credit:Eddie Jim Agri Labour managing director Casey Brown said it was ''still trying to ascertain the accuracy of these claims''.

MCG Fresh Produce field manager Cesare Mercuri disputed working conditions were unsafe and that exposure to chemicals caused the reaction. He said he had followed all guidelines to spray safely and suggested the workers may not have drunk enough water while out in the sun. One of Ms Roqara’s co-workers Kaspa Mwea, through the National Union of Workers, has launched Fair Work Commission action against Agri Labour. The action is alleging underpayment and a series of other serious workplace breaches. It also claims that workers were threatened by an agent from Vanuatu, on behalf of Agri Labour, that they would not be able to return to Australia if they joined the union.

The workers had joined the union after complaining about conditions at MCG Fresh Produce. A few weeks ago they were moved to a new farm, where pay and conditions are much better. Agri Labour's Mr Brown said the agent was not employed or contracted with his company but he had ''adamantly’’ denied threatening the workers. Mr Brown conceded there had been problems at MCG Fresh Produce. The labour hire firm had, as a result, changed its vetting procedures. ''We can say that the farm would not pass our new client assessment process.'' NUW national secretary Tim Kennedy said Agri Labour had ''fundamentally failed'' the workers.

''On paper, the Seasonal Worker Programme provides some very good protections for workers,'' he said. ''However, what this case proves again is that if workers don’t have the right to join the union and raise the alarm about workplace problems without retaliation, wage theft and exploitation will continue on Australian farms.'' NUW national secretary Tim Kennedy said supermarkets needed to do more. Credit:Justin McManus Pay summaries, interviews with workers and other documents, obtained by The Sunday Age, indicate workers were often paid between $8 to $14 an hour while at the farm. The workers were paid piece rates, with payment based on how much you pick.

The horticulture award says an average competent employee should earn 15 per cent more than the minimum hourly rate in the award for piece work. That should be more than $25 an hour for a casual. Offers of employment by labour hire firm Agri Labour told them an average worker would earn at least $28 an hour for a 30 hour week. Instead their pay was significantly less and for one stretch, over summer, they worked 14 days straight, documents show. Once their rent, visa fees, transport and other costs had been deducted they were left with barely enough to go shopping for food. Agri Labour’s Mr Brown said it had boosted workers’ pay and sent its own employees to the site once problems emerged.

But he said it was still ''gathering evidence'' on whether the pay rate was too low. ''The original piece rate paid to workers was approved under the correct procedures of the program. Further to this, we paid above what was approved and believe it was reasonable.’’ Mr Brown said it had contacted the ''relevant government department'' and had received ''no adverse feedback'' about MCG Fresh Produce. The Department of Jobs and Small Business did not respond to a request for comment. Mr Mercuri defended the pay rates while adding the work is ''very hard'', particularly for people who had never picked tomatoes before. He said they have to pay piece rate.

''We can’t pay hourly rate, we’d go broke in a couple of months.'' The action against Agri Labour is the latest by the NUW as part of a campaign to clean up conditions in the horticultural sector, where exploitation of migrant labour is rife. The sector has been non-union for decades. Last year Fairfax Media revealed similar exploitation of workers from Vanuatu under the scheme involving another major labour hire firm, MADEC. The union says MADEC has since improved its performance on workers’ rights.

Mr Kennedy said the big supermarkets needed to clean up their supply chain and needed to take direct responsibility for enforcing standards. ''Supermarkets cannot pretend that the problems in this industry have gone away.'' Ms Roqara, 31, says she wanted to come to work to Australia after hearing about other workers from Vanuatu who had returned with $10,000 in savings from a six-month stint. Earning a living in Vanuatu is tough and average workers earn about $1.75 an hour. It has meant both Ms Roqara and her husband, currently working on a farm in New Zealand, have to come overseas to support their young family, two boys aged 7 and 1.

Her mother is caring for them while she is away. Ms Roqara, said the workers, had expected much better when they arrived here in December. But after her five months in Australia, Ms Roqara will return to Vanuatu with about $1000. She wants back-pay for unpaid work and underpayment. ''All the hours that we’ve been wasting, we think they should refund.'' Do you know more? Contact us securely via Journotips Follow Ben Schneiders on Facebook