Primary Industries
The government has rejected a request from the seafood industry that overseas fruit pickers be allowed to complete their fish processing visas.
Horticultural workers in Tongan, Samoan and Ni-Vanuatu were redeployed or flown home, to the disappointment of the country’s largest fishing companies who asked for help filling hundreds of jobs in their processing plants.
Between 200 and 500 workers still had time left on their Recognized Seasonal Employer visas, at the end of the fruit-picking season in Nelson and Marlborough. Sealord and Talley ‘wrote to the immigration minister asking for workers to be given the opportunity to switch to better paid seafood work, to help tackle a huge labor shortage at the start of New Zealand’s lucrative hockey season speak.
Craig Boote, CEO of fishing company Westfleet, said the industry was in shock. “I flew to Auckland at 6am yesterday, and 80 per cent of the plane was full of these island workers going home. I just can not work it out.
“I can now get by with another 50 people in my Greymouth factory. The hockey season is about to start and Talley’s, Sealord, we all need people,” he told Newsroom.
“So the seafood industry has applied to Immigration NZ to see if we can keep these guys here for another three months.”
“They rejected it last week and say because the original application bore fruit, they are going home.”
“We’re not going to be able to pull our hoki out of the water this year because we can not find people. We have the sales, we can catch them, the fishery is in good condition – but we can” We can not process it because we does not have staff. ”
– Craig Boote, Westfleet
“We’re actually punch-drunk. The whole industry is in total disarray and shock at the moment.”
“We’re not going to be able to pull our hoki out of the water this year because we can not find people. We have the sales, we can catch them, the fishery is in good condition – but we can” We can not process it because we does not have staff. ”
Outgoing immigration minister Kris Faafoi wrote to Sealord CEO Doug Paulin, acknowledging that redeploying workers to the seafood sector would provide a short-term labor need. “I think it is more appropriate to properly assess both the sector’s willingness and ability to participate in a Pacific program, and Pacific governments’ interest in such a program before taking any action.
“I recognize the seafood sector’s continuing labor shortages and I hope that the government’s recent decision to increase the limit on seafood process workers to 200 and lower the wage threshold to $ 24 per hour will go a long way in easing labor pressure.”
Ocean Bounty / Gone Fishin ‘
A wage of $ 24 per hour will be more than most workers earn to reap the rewards. But the opportunity to bring in 200 workers will not take effect until July; meanwhile, there is no indication that the existing fruit pickers have been offered the chance to continue working in the nearby seafood factories.
The decision to reject the seafood industry’s plea was a little more complex than Boote’s description.
Part of the problem was that Covid border restrictions meant that there were few repatriation flights to Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. Employers in the horticultural and viticultural industries were interviewed last month and said they could take on some of the workers who could not yet be sent home. Some pickers have been redeployed to producers in Abundance Bay and Pukekohe.
“We were desperate. We were about 250 people short of what we usually are this time of year. Now we just got used to the idea of them saying ‘no’.”
– Dawn Cooper, Sealord
Sealord’s human resources manager, Dawn Cooper, said they had been talking to horticultural employers about the problem since April. “They handled these extra 500 people who would not normally be needed at that stage.
“We were desperate. We were about 250 people short of what we usually are this time of year. Now we just got used to the idea that they said ‘no’, so we have to move on.”
Later this month, CEO Doug Paulin, Cooper and other executives will begin shifts on the processing line to help manage the workforce shortage. “That’s when it’s really starting to increase for hoki season, and we’re all scheduled on the full line.”
Cooper said the industry appreciates the regulatory change granted to up to 200 visas for seafood process workers.
“Allowing RSE workers to switch to roles in different sectors, even as a temporary measure, will increase expectations of continued access from business, workers and Pacific Island governments and will for the government make it difficult to ensure the same high standards of pastoral care required of CSR employers. “
– Sam Foley, MBIE
But it’s too little, too late. “Unfortunately, Sealord could not use this new category with hoki season starting in May with logistics and time frames to identify countries for workers, make contractual arrangements with agencies, select workers who then apply for visas before any trip, she said.
“The earliest Sealord could have it in place was August, which did not make commercial sense for the set-up and processing costs when most of the hoki season would be over.”
Tony Hazlett, CEO of Talley’s Group, said his company initially heard of 200 RSE workers trapped in New Zealand because the Tongan border was closed. “Because we understand that there is no horticultural or viticultural work available to them, we have informed the Government that we have posts available and would like to employ them,” he said.
“Unfortunately, this did not happen until the borders reopened for them and they were able to return home.
“The seafood sector continues to advocate for access to RSE and more permanent workers, and if there is a way for any RSE worker to switch from horticulture and viticulture, it will be extremely useful, especially when we are in such a situation. is a tight labor market. “
About 180 of the Pacific workers were employed to pick 200 acres of apples at Vailima Orchard, south of Nelson. Director Matthew Hoddy said moving the workers to the seafood industry would have been a good option. But instead, horticultural businesses worked in their industry to smooth the hills.
“We had 27 guys for four weeks at a kiwi warehouse just outside South Auckland, in Pukekohe. And those people couldn’t get their RSE workers in from Vanuatu, so that bridged a gap.”
Hoddy is chairman of a management team for Nelson regional growers. “You have people who did about four weeks of work elsewhere until the flights started flowing. So it was bid time, but to keep everyone informed.
“Many of the long-termers have set a target at the end of the harvest like when they wanted to go back home. And so it’s quite difficult to get someone to want to spend longer when it’s in their minds that they are ready to to go. ” at home.
“An orchard is a dynamic thing. There’s always good to do. So no one was ever worried that work would run out – it was just that you were taking the work of a later part of the year when you would probably do it yourself. did. “
“Two of the contract fishermen we work with, who have their own boats and crew, recently told us they are going out of fishing due to rising fuel costs.”
– Colin Williams, Sandford
Sam Foley, the manager of international and humanitarian immigration policy at the Ministry of Business and Innovation, confirmed that there were a number of Recognized Seasonal Employers workers who had been in New Zealand for a significant period due to Covid. “Some have been here since 2020 and could not return home,” Foley said.
“The priority of employers, and the governments of New Zealand and the Pacific, is to repatriate these workers to enable them to return home to their families.
“For those workers who are unable to leave in the short term, a temporary change to RSE institutions is planned to enable them to move between RSE employers, including to other regions. The horticultural and viticultural industries have the Government informed that there is enough work inside. the RSE scheme for any RSE workers while staying in New Zealand. “
The RSE scheme is designed to allow the horticultural and viticultural industries to recruit workers from overseas, usually from the Pacific, for seasonal work when there are not enough New Zealand workers. Employers in the scheme are required to comply with certain standards of pastoral care, and the scheme provides enforcement options against employers who do not comply.
“Allowing RSE workers to switch to roles in different sectors, even as a temporary measure, will increase expectations of continued access from business, workers and Pacific Island governments and will for the government making it difficult to ensure the same high standards of pastoral care required of CSR employers, “said Foley.” In this case, our advice from the horticultural and viticultural industry was that it would not be necessary. “
Foley noted that from July 4, employers in the seafood industry will be able to recruit migrant workers under the new Accredited Employer Work Visa, where there was a real shortage of New Zealand workers. The Government was also in the process of advancing a sectoral agreement for the seafood industry.
Another of the largest seafood companies is Sanford in Auckland, which also has a plant in Nelson.
Colin Williams, general manager of fishing, said the company has definitely noticed the increase in costs across all aspects of our operations. Fuel was a problem for the smaller operators: “Two of the contract fishermen we work with, who have their own boats and crew, recently told us they were going out of fishing due to rising fuel costs.”
But he said they are also affected by rising labor costs. “It is a highly inflationary environment in which we find ourselves, and it is difficult to know when this situation will change.”