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The horticultural worker shortage due to Covid-19 border restrictions is putting $ 9.5 billion of the country’s economy at risk, says New Zealand Apples and Pears CEO Alan Pollard.
About 10,000 seasonal workers would be needed starting next month to prune and collect $ 1 billion worth of fruit in Hawke’s Bay alone, he said.
The shortages had the potential to cripple the region’s economic recovery.
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Hawke’s Bay growers facing severe labor shortages are working hard to attract more New Zealand workers for this year’s harvest.
“This just can’t happen.”
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A joint statement from the industry body, the Hastings District Council and the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council was released on Friday, highlighting the problem.
Producers facing severe labor shortages due to border restrictions were working to attract more kiwis, the organizations said.
The horticulture and viticulture sectors met with the region’s leaders this week to plan for the pending shortage, which will further affect the harvest season, around February at the latest.
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“This is a problem faced by many New Zealand regions, putting $ 9.5 billion in the country’s overall economy at risk. This simply cannot happen, ”says Alan Pollard, CEO of New Zealand Apples and Pears.
There were a very limited number of registered seasonal employer (CSR) workers and backpackers still in the country, while Pacific workers who would normally travel to New Zealand were also being invited to Australia for their restart of the Seasonal Worker Program.
Solutions being considered in Hawke’s Bay were to attract unemployed Kiwis, dropout students and tertiary education students for the summer vacation and to use prison facility workers during the day.
Employers can also offer more flexible work hours or use technology to reduce the physical requirements of workers.
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Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst says that if the fruit is not picked, it puts thousands of permanent jobs in our community at risk.
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said that failure to harvest the fruit would put thousands of permanent jobs at risk.
“More than 8000 local people are permanently employed at Hawke’s Bay in and around the horticulture and viticulture sectors, from packing houses to the port.
“But these permanent roles depend on the trees that are planted and pruned and the fruit that is picked, all of which seem increasingly difficult.”
Thornhill farmworker supply company business manager Nick Bibby said there was a worker shortage even before Covid-19, and that these days he had even fewer requests from local workers.
BONNIE DEFECTS / Stuff
Nick Bibby of Thornill and manager Ellen Hamlin at the Angus Housing Complex in Hastings. Bibby says he would like to be able to quarantine the CSR workers at the facility.
The Kiwi workers weren’t “apples for apples” either with the CSR workers, who worked an average of 15 more hours a week, he said.
“It’s going to be a serious problem here in November if we can’t get in any more. What we really want is to quarantine them in our own facilities,” he said.
Thornhill pulled workers out of prison facilities on release day every year, and this year was doubling the number to 24. He was also planning to run a recruiting drive to attract workers from other parts of the country in October, but Bibby still I didn’t think there would be enough workers.
The government could be more innovative in its approach, he said, noting that Australia was offering a discount on student loan repayments to students who worked in the fruit industry this summer.
“The problem is the bureaucracy. Everything takes so long to get some authorization on things and make decisions. Meanwhile, the fruit continues to grow. “
DOMINICO ZAPATA / STUFF / Waikato Times
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has vowed to relax border rules for skilled workers if she is reelected.
In response to Labor Party leader Jacinda Ardern’s electoral commitment to relax border rules for skilled workers if they are re-elected, Bibby said it may be too late by then.
“It doesn’t have to be a bribe. Why wouldn’t you do that now?
Bibby said that between $ 25 and $ 27 an hour, the pickers and pruners were very skilled. With many coming from Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands, where there have been no cases of coronavirus, “Why shouldn’t they be calm?” I ask.
Compensation is likely to rise this year because growers would likely be forced to pay more to get apples off the trees, he said.
Hazelhurst said the council had been calling for more flexibility with the CSR scheme to allow workers from Covid-free countries to enter, “just as they did successfully during the alert level 4 lockdown.”
He said he would meet with Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi later this month to address the urgent matter.
