Around 250 people have been accepted for a variation of conditions to their visitor visas to work in the labour shortage declaration in the BOP and extension in Hawkes Bay.
New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (NZKGI) are pleased that since the announcement of the declaration on 5 April, around 250 people have successfully applied to vary the conditions of their visitor visas to work in the labour shortage declaration in the Bay of Plenty and extension in Hawkes Bay. The number is expected to increase sharply over this week. In 2018, around 230 people successfully applied for a VOC in the Bay of Plenty over the declaration period.
This week marks the beginning of the peak of harvest for the kiwifruit industry in the Bay of Plenty. More than 18,000 seasonal workers will be required to pick and pack the iconic fruit. The peak is expected to last until the end of May.
NZKGI CEO Nikki Johnson: “while we are pleased our attraction campaign has increased the number of visitors who have shown interest to work in the kiwifruit industry, we are likely to require more workers to pick and pack at season peak. As a first priority, we are calling on people who live in close proximity to orchards and packhouses to roll up their sleeves and join us in this booming industry.” Those from further afield are recommended to secure accommodation before arriving.
Current estimates put the potential labour shortfall at peak around 3,550 the Bay of Plenty’s kiwifruit industry. There was a shortfall of 1,200 vacancies at the peak of harvest in 2018. The shortage places the current workforce under pressure to pick and pack this years’ estimated volume of over 155 million trays. So far around a quarter has been picked and packed.
Meanwhile, Hawke's Bay orchard workers are sometimes doing '70 hour weeks' as tourist workers leave.
A Hawke's Bay grower says the government's seasonal labour shortage extension process is too slow, and forced him to lay off 22 staff members at the height of the harvest. General manager of Yummy Apples, Paul Paynter, said tourist workers who had applied for visa changes under the old labour shortage had to reapply when it was extended. He said they had left at the height of the harvest. "Having the seasonal labour shortage end on April 5 was almost the most inconvenient plausible date. We just needed those people for about two more weeks."
Yummy Apples had harvested about 80 per cent of its crop, but he knew some of the bigger orchards were struggling, with only 60-65 per cent of their crop harvested, as they had larger crops and needed more pickers.
He said the best solution was the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, but it needed to be changed to be fit for purpose. "At the moment your RSE allocations, and the decision, is made on a year-by-year basis. We have to have at least a model where we can say, the number will go up and down, here's the criteria, if unemployment goes up your numbers are going to get cut by this much."
Source: scoop.co.nz