Inghams Pay Rates 2026: Processing, Farm & Plant Pay

Inghams is the largest poultry producer in Australia and New Zealand, with hatcheries, feed mills, farms and processing plants across every mainland state. Processing-line operators, boners, packers, forklift drivers, farm hands and maintenance tradespeople make up most of its workforce.

Inghams bargains plant by plant, and our corpus lists a long set of Inghams agreements (below). The federal safety net is the Poultry Processing Award 2020, tabled below, with farm workers on the Poultry stream of the Pastoral Award and transport on the Road Transport Award.

The federal awards relevant to Inghams roles:

• Poultry Processing Award 2020 (MA000074)

Workforce snapshot. In its 2024-25 report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Inghams Group Limited declared 6,654 employees — 25.7% casual and 42.4% women, with 212 in management roles. Source: WGEA 2025 Public Data File, data.gov.au (CC-BY 3.0 AU).

The Poultry Processing Award 2020 (MA000074) adult minimums are:

Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, current-operative rates (1 July 2026 annual wage review). Casual figures add the 25% casual loading.

Enterprise agreements set rates above the award, with their own classification structures and allowances. Current Inghams agreements in our corpus (57 in total):

• WINGHAM A PTY LIMITED BUS DRIVERS' (GRIFFITH) ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2025 — approved April 2026, nominal expiry 22 April 2030.
• REO INVESTMENTS PTY LIMITED BUS DRIVERS' (WINGHAM) ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2025 — approved March 2026, nominal expiry 13 March 2030.
• WINGHAM A PTY LIMITED BUS DRIVERS’ (BERRIMA) ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2025 — approved March 2026, nominal expiry 9 March 2030.
• WINGHAM A PTY LIMITED BUS DRIVERS' (ORANGE) ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2025 — approved January 2026, nominal expiry 27 January 2030.
• WINGHAM A PTY LIMITED BUS DRIVERS' (DUBBO) ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2025 — approved January 2026, nominal expiry 27 January 2030.
• Zenith Interiors Sandringham Enterprise Agreement 2023 — approved June 2025, nominal expiry 26 June 2029.
• Inghams Enterprises (Thomastown) and AMIEU Enterprise Agreement 2026 — approved February 2026, nominal expiry 9 May 2029.
• Ingham's Enterprises (Clyde Feedmill) & UWU Enterprise Agreement 2024 — approved January 2025, nominal expiry 29 January 2029.

Plus 49 more — search "Inghams" in our agreements database.

We don't reproduce agreement dollar figures here — the agreement covering your site, state and stream is the document to read. Find your agreement, then your classification, then your pay point, and compare it with your payslip. The award tables on this page are the floor every one of these agreements must beat.

General award-compliance issues that come up across the poultry processing sector. This is a checklist for your own payslip, not a finding about Inghams:

• Wrong MI level for the skill actually used — trained boners and slicers paid as labourers.
• Unpaid knife-sharpening, PPE and clean-down time.
• Tally and piece-rate systems that fall below the award for the hours worked.
• Visa workers paid below the plant agreement — the same rates apply regardless of visa status.

Match your payslip to your classification in the agreement (or the award tables above), and price any gap with our back-pay calculator. Raise it in writing with payroll or your manager first — most underpayments are fixed at that step. Unresolved, the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) recovers underpayments at no cost, up to six years back, and your union can run the claim for you. Not sure which instrument covers you? Ask our AI advisor with your role and location.