A 51-year-old farmhand says he's being treated unfairly by his employer because he can't read or write.
Ed Emery has worked on Tiroa Station, owned by the Ngati Rereahu iwi in the Waitomo district, for four years, and it's never been an issue before.
But now, his employer has brought in new requirements that are costing Mr Emery money.
Every day for the past four years Mr Emery has headed out on a beef farm in Benneydale, south of Te Kuiti, clearing waterways and doing other practical farm work.
"They all liked my work ethic," he says. "They all saw that I worked hard."
But three months ago the farm owners said Mr Emery needed to write down what work he'd done each day. The trouble is he's almost illiterate.
Mr Emery warned he'd struggle to use a diary system.
"When I got this diary I made it clear to the manager that I couldn't read and write."
Mr Emery's employer, the managers of a Maori-owned trust, say they can't watch their workers' every move on a big, remote property, so they need a record of what they've done each day. So Mr Emery devised his own code to show what work he'd done – "c.up", "wt" and "dg" mean clean up, in accordance with Wahi Tapu, a dead goat from the stream.
But that's not good enough for his employer, who has docked Mr Emery's pay by around $1400 in the past two months. Basically, he says if he doesn't write down his tasks the way they want it, they don't pay him.
The trust's chairman sent 3 News two pages of background information, but there was one question we really wanted answered: Did it dock Mr Emery's pay because of his diary entries or not? It won't say, citing employee privacy issues.
"If the employer knew he couldn't read or write, the onus is on them to have reasonable systems to accommodate him in his work," says Council of Trade Unions (CTU) legal advisor Jeff Sissons.
The Department of Labour is concerned about cases like Mr Emery's. It says farmhands can be isolated and vulnerable. The CTU agrees.
"There's a real challenge in agriculture because the industry is one of the worst for treating its workers, and health and safety," says Mr Sissons.
Mr Emery is so worried about his situation, he came to 3 News even though his contract forbids him from talking to reporters.
"What they're trying to do is make me have enough and leave the farm, but I don't have anywhere else to go," he says.
Mr Emery wants his full pay reinstated and a system he can use that will track his work. In the meantime he'll just keep working and hopefully record that work well enough to get paid for it.
3 News
source: newshub archive
