Pork Industry Labour Agreement (PILA): Sponsoring Senior Piggery Stockpersons

What is the Pork Industry Labour Agreement?

The PILA is a formal legal arrangement between an eligible Australian pork industry employer and the Commonwealth of Australia, administered by the Department of Home Affairs under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth). It is one of the published industry template agreements alongside those covering the Dairy, Fishing, On-hire, Meat, Horticulture, Restaurant (Fine Dining), Advertising, and Minister of Religion industries.

Because the PILA uses a standard template, its terms are set by the Department in advance. An employer entering the PILA agrees to those fixed terms rather than negotiating individual clauses. Each employer that executes the agreement enters into a company-specific agreement on the template terms, which sets out the approved nomination ceilings for that employer and confirms the location category of their operation. The agreement reflects longstanding challenges in recruiting qualified workers for the Senior Stockperson (Piggery) role, which requires specialised skills in herd health management, breeding programs, biosecurity compliance, and the supervision of livestock operations that are difficult to source locally.

For a broader overview of how labour agreements work in Australia, see our Labour Agreements page.

The Senior Stockperson (Piggery) occupation

The PILA covers a single occupation: Senior Stockperson (Piggery). There is no formal ANZSCO code for this occupation. For administrative purposes, sponsors use code 070499 when lodging nominations in ImmiAccount.

The occupation is defined by its supervisory and technical responsibilities across the full operation of a commercial piggery. It is not a general farmhand or labouring role. The official task list for a Senior Stockperson (Piggery), as confirmed from the PILA template, includes:

• Supervising the site and facilities in terms of the required human resources, physical resources, safety requirements, consumables, documentation, and measurement devices
• Providing overall maintenance and compliance of the Company Quality Assurance program for the site and ensuring all relevant documentation is kept current
• Supervising data collection and recording so information is accurate to aid stock and inventory control
• Undertaking specific tasks assigned by management to ensure that environmental, quality, and safety goals are met
• Implementing preventable maintenance programs to reduce planned and unplanned downtime
• Supervising trial sheds and collecting and recording data in accordance with trial protocols
• Selection of breeding stock and/or pigs for sale
• Supervision and participation in daily inspection of livestock, ensuring animals are appropriately fed, watered, and that environmental parameters are fulfilled, working with and supervising a less experienced stockperson
• Supervision and participation in daily inspection of livestock, ensuring compromised animals are individually assessed, identified, treated, and recorded in accordance with the Company Herd Health Plan and the industry’s Model Code of Practice
• Euthanising sick or injured stock in a humane manner and in accordance with the Model Code of Practice for Animal Welfare, Pigs, 3rd edition
• Conducting post mortem examinations of deceased stock and reporting findings
• Collecting boar semen at an artificial insemination laboratory
• Undertaking processing duties within the artificial insemination laboratory
• Supervision and participation in the mating of animals via individually supervised mating or through artificial insemination
• Supervision of the birthing process, including the ability to physically conduct unsupervised internal assessments of females during parturition to minimise the incidence of still births
• Participating in company and industry training sessions and workshops as required
• Performing any other duty as required by the unit manager

The supervisory dimension of the role is central to PILA eligibility. A worker whose duties are primarily operational rather than supervisory will not satisfy the template requirements.

PILA concessions by visa and location

The concessions available under the PILA depend on the location category of the employer’s piggery and the visa stream being used.

Salary concession

English language requirements under PILA

Age concession

There is no age limit for the SID visa in any location category. For SESR and ENS nominations in Category 2 and 3 locations, the age concession allows workers up to 55 years of age at the time of visa application lodgement. In Category 1 locations, the standard ENS age requirement of under 45 applies.

Visa options under PILA

Skills and experience requirements

SID visa nominations

For a SID (Subclass 482) nomination, a worker must satisfy one of the following three pathways confirmed from Schedule 4, Item 1 of the official PILA template:

SESR and ENS visa nominations

For SESR (Subclass 494) and ENS (Subclass 186) nominations, a worker must meet the SID qualification requirements described above and additionally demonstrate a minimum of three years of full-time work experience in the Senior Stockperson (Piggery) occupation, whether gained in Australia or overseas.

Requirements for piggery employers

How to access the Pork Industry Labour Agreement

1. 1

   Confirm eligibility and location category

   Before preparing any documentation, confirm that the facility qualifies as a medium to large commercial piggery and identify the location category of the operation. The location category determines which salary and age concessions apply. Our migration lawyers can complete this assessment.

2. 2

   进行劳动力市场测试

   Labour market testing must be completed before lodging a nomination. Requirements differ by location category as described above. All recruitment attempts, including platforms used, advertisements placed, applications received, and reasons why local candidates were not suitable, must be documented and retained.

3. 3

   Prepare and lodge the agreement request

   Lodge the request through ImmiAccount with evidence of the piggery’s operations, genuine workforce need, LMT outcomes, proposed salary arrangements, location category, and any additional information required by the Department. The Department sets nomination ceilings for each year of the five-year agreement term.

4. 4

   Agreement executed

   Once the Department is satisfied, the agreement is executed. The employer becomes an approved sponsor and can lodge nominations within the approved annual ceilings. The agreement is reviewed after three years and on an annual basis where additional ceilings are sought.

5. 5

   Lodge nominations and visa applications

   After the agreement is executed, the employer lodges nominations for each overseas worker. Once a nomination is approved, the worker lodges their visa application under the Labour Agreement stream. The Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy is payable by the employer at each nomination.

Pay, welfare and ongoing obligations

• Sponsored Senior Stockpersons must be engaged on a full-time basis and paid at least the minimum rate required under the Pastoral Award 2020 (MA000035), Part 7, Pig Breeding and Raising, for the relevant classification. They must also receive guaranteed earnings at least equal to the applicable CSIT or TSMIT for their visa stream, or 90% of that figure in Category 3 locations, and at least the Australian Market Salary Rate for the role. All three floors must be met simultaneously.

• Salary must be paid directly to the worker from the employer’s Australian bank account, including taxes and superannuation. The employer must not deduct amounts from the worker’s salary except where authorised in writing by the worker for their own benefit, authorised by an enterprise agreement, authorised by a modern award or Fair Work Act order, or required by law.

• Workplace rights information must be provided to all workers within seven days of commencing employment in the nominated occupation, confirmed from Schedule 6, Item 2 of the PILA template.

• The employer must not charge workers fees for services provided, including for nomination or for securing employment.

• Where a labour hire or recruitment company was used to source an overseas worker, that provider must be licensed under any applicable state or territory legislation. Regardless of how the worker was sourced, they must work directly for the sponsoring employer.

• Piggery operators must comply with all applicable biosecurity requirements, workplace health and safety obligations, and relevant industry codes of practice, including the Model Code of Practice for Animal Welfare, Pigs.

Common PILA mistakes

For overseas piggery workers

Overseas workers cannot apply for a PILA independently. The arrangement must be held by an Australian piggery employer who lodges the nomination and takes on the associated obligations. Only after the employer’s nomination is approved can the worker apply for their visa.

If you have skilled experience in a medium to large-scale commercial piggery, the first step is confirming whether your experience meets one of the PILA qualification and experience pathways and whether your prior employer was a piggery of sufficient scale. Workers with an AQF Certificate III in Agriculture (Pig Production) or equivalent and at least three years of relevant experience, or five or more years of experience without the qualification, are most likely to satisfy the template requirements.

Permanent residence is available through the Subclass 186 Labour Agreement stream after three years of full-time work in Australia as a primary Subclass 457 or 482 visa holder in the Senior Stockperson (Piggery) occupation with the same sponsoring employer. Workers in Category 2 or 3 locations on a Subclass 494 also have a pathway through the Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) visa (Subclass 191) after meeting the regional residence and employment requirements.

How our migration lawyers can help