Dear NZ horticultural exploiters, let me see if I can get this completely straight…
Let me see if I can get this completely straight.
Horticultural exporters who have exploited migrant workers for decades are screaming they can’t continue to exploit those migrant workers because the border is gloriously closed thanks to Covid and this is bad because NZ workers are too lazy and soft from the easy mega bucks they get from the dole?
Note, it’s NEVER the shit work conditions, shit pay or shit accomodation that is EVER the problem here, it’s those lazy Kiwi bludgers that force the horticultural exporters to exploit migrant labour.
So if that’s true, if it’s just a case of lazy Kiwi bludgers preferring to live on the big fat welfare cheques that keep them in pies and chips for breakfast, then how the fuck are Australian horticultural exporters able to offer free accommodation, better work conditions, far more pay, a fucking bonus AND a $2000 relocation fee???
Aussie Govt attempts to pinch Kiwi seasonal workers, offering $2000 to work in Australia
The Australian Government is attempting to pinch our seasonal workers in a bid to strengthen their agricultural harvesting industry by offering New Zealanders $2000 to move across the ditch.
In an email to Kiwis, sent via a not-for-profit hostel, backpackers and travel organisation, the Government is trying to entice New Zealanders by encouraging them to do their “big OE in OZ”.
The offer, which has been advertised on the Australian Government jobseeker website, promises Kiwis $2000 if they complete six weeks’ work of harvesting (20 hours a week minimum) in Australia’s regional areas.
…isn’t that incredible?
In NZ, the lazy bludgers are too soft to work hard for the pittance the NZ horticultural exporters offer, yet in Australia when good wages, free accommodation, relocation costs and bonuses are offered, they can get NZ workers???
Mungo no understand.
Before Helen Kelly died, she used to play a game trolling the various industries of NZ by lifting the job conditions from their job adverts and pointedly asking why the hell would any Kiwi work for such poor conditions, if the current CTU wasn’t so interested in only promoting middle class work conditions for bureaucrats in Wellington, they could reignite this HK tradition.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice going into this pandemic and 2020 election – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media.
You forgot to mention Mr Heap prefers Thai workers, the locals are unreliable and the Pacific Island workers have ‘cultural issues’…
Weird how the woke have objections to anything racial but when a right wing pro immigration makes racial claims… radio silence from woke, lefties and the media…
I though it was against human rights in NZ to discriminate employment on race grounds, but I must be wrong because I can’t see any action from NZ authorities against Mr Heap’s public views on the race of his employees and no action on any other pro immigration groups with the same views.
The exact same ‘problem’ of lazy locals not wanting to work hard picking fruit and vegetables is playing out in Australia. They have also exploited foreign workers for years and due to covid can’t do so this season. Good employers on both sides of the Tasman will adapt and begin to develop a pool of local seasonal workers such as we used to have. Millionaire cougette growing bastards will be left witj a field of rotting vegetables.
Given that we have a group of Recognised Seasonal Employers who are currently able to bring in seasonal workers from overseas we should also develop a category of Recognised Seasonal Employees. If the government was either serious or brave they would do two things
Set the tax rate for RSE’s at 10% and allow unemployed people to work as RSE’s for up to 15 weeks with no abatement to their benefit.
New Zealand growers used to provide decent accommodation, probably when there were decent growers – not designer shirt plonkers.
WINZ has to bear some responsibility for this in sending Kiwi pickers off to orchards knowing that there is no accommodation available for them.
Instead of just informing the worker that there will be no accommodation available, WINZ staffers in Wellington and Hawkes Bay and Nelson, should be talking accommodation with employers wanting workers. This requires initiative, and initiative in depts like WINZ can lead to workplace repercussions. That’s how it is.
clearly there is accomodation for migrant workers… know someone who went off a benefit and tried to get orchard work, was a disaster, cost a fortune for them to travel down there, had to buy a tent and camping equipment and sleep in a campground, because the orchard did not want ‘trouble with woman” living near the seasonal workers due to rape. Scary stuff. Then good old WINZ refused to let them back on the benefit when it did not last long… the rule of thumb in NZ, is don’t ditch your benefit for a job because most of the shortages are not real and the work costs you a fortune to do because of all the cost of travel, accomodation, below minimum wages, unsafe conditions and the employers don’t want you because they have contracts in place for migrant workers with no come back.
saveNZ – I’ve been talking with a local seasonal apple picker, Kiwi; immigrant parents who did similar work way back, so he knows some of the history – and practices vary – and systems sometimes are out of synch with each other – WINZ say vacancies are available when growers say otherwise – there can be a number of reasons for this.
WINZ stopping benefits, temporarily or otherwise, can be nightmarish, seemingly mainly due to their own inadequacies. Workers on a variable wage and getting WINZ top-ups, need a competent case manager – or whatever they’re called – to protect them from their own debt-collector bullies – it adds another layer of stress to precarious lives. And yes, coming off a benefit and going back on, seems to be terribly daunting, possibly again due to their own second-rate systems.
I assume that the ‘ Labour Dept ‘ bringing in overseas pickers for this country to exploit, addresses basic issues like accommodation, but there is nobody on the side of our own home grown workers, who can get lambasted by critics who do not know how harsh the practical realities may be.
Was it Steinbeck’s “ Grapes of Wrath ?” I’ve asked this picker specific questions, and it is sad that powerless people accept being treated like characters from depression America in New Zealand in the 21stC.
I see America was paying their prisoners three dollars an hour to load dead people who had died from Covid into a large truck/vehicle. This makes our exploitation look minor on the face of things but really we have been heading in this direction and the courgette grower is but one example of how many here have exploited cheap foreign labour for too long. And really its a pity its taken a pandemic to highlight this abuse as these practises should have been reigned in.
At one time in the year courgettes were selling at $20 a kg .They must have sold at that price so there is no reason why the grower cannot pay more to the pickers and up the price changed Zto the consumer
It has been said by others but one of the main reason it is hard to get locals is the hassle of going on and off the benefit for short periods of seasonal work . This has been a problem for years and this current government do not seem to be making any effort to change the culture at WINZ.
I agree Trevor
Maybe pic related should consider selling his farmland to a younger family instead of being 80 years old complaining no one will pick those courgettes for him.
Brett Heap claimed it was not about wages.
The Prime Minister, (no less) smacked down Brett Heap as a liar by rightly pointing out the fact that out of the combined 20,000 migrant workers and back packers stuck in this country when the borders closed don’t want to work for Brett Heap either.
Questioned by Mike Hosking,
….She said there were 6000 foreign workers still in New Zealand from last season. “We want to make sure we are redeploying them across the country.” She said work was under way to do that.
There were also 14,000 people on a working holiday who had their visas extended, she said.
None of these foreign workers want to work for Brett Heap, who refuses to give up on his minimum wage sweated labour practices.
I bet none of the Thai workers that Brett Heap has exploited for years, would work for him either. if they had a free choice in the matter. But under the rules of RCEP, employers can bring in workers bonded just to them.
‘Bonded Labour’ is an interchangeable term for slavery
Stevie
I worked in the horticultural industry in the Bay of Plenty for around twenty years.
Every year growers told me of their problems getting experienced, skilled staff for harvesting, pruning etc.
Every year I pointed out that people were coming to work from forty kilometres away and sleeping in cars( in mid winter) working in rain, frost and howling gales for really shit money(in 1982 when I began the fruit growers federation combined in an agreement to keep hourly rates at $4.50 and the Orchard Workers Union did sweet fanny adams in response) only to be dumped at the end of the season.
Obviously as soon as people could get better jobs they did so.
I suggested that growers could at least offer some basic accomodation( like shearers quarters and pickers barracks as in Australia) and assistance with transport.
There were snorts of dismay as Kiwifruit millionaires claimed they would have to forgo their annual overseas holiday or not buy the luxury big game fishing launch they wanted or not get the sports car and luxury coupe that would make their life complete.
What is that biblical thing about ‘ as ye sow so shall ye reap?’ Would have thought vegetable and fruit growers could work it out themselves
Was watching seven sharp and they had a Te Puke kiwifruit orchard owner on. I thought “oh here we go agian”, but was pleasantly surprised. He had no complaints, was not having hiring issues, and seemed to have a reputation as a good employer.
The “Courgette Millionaire” story was brought up in conversation and he pretty much brushed it aside, making a comment that he had heard from others in that region that had no problem hiring 150 locals for their hydroponics.
I think the problem clearly is with the courgette millionaire, who with the help of media, has been pushing his marrow barrow sob story since May, so has had plenty of time to make alternative arrangements for this season.
The accomodation, if any is provided is also deducted from wages, usually at preposterous rates.
Wait, wait, wait – WHAT? They charge the worker for accomodation in NZ???
The pay and conditions may be lousy, but smart workers avoid the kind of greedy swine that Mr Heap appears to be anyway. Life’s too short to waste spending it with assholes.