The Meat Industry Association (MIA) says a new sector agreement with the Government will help address labour shortages.
The sector agreement with the industry includes access to migrant workers for entry-level red meat processing roles at $24.00 per hour with a cap on the number of visas. This will be replaced with a Pacific programme from 2024.
Migrants taking up these places will receive seven-month visas and the wage threshold will be updated each year to reflect changes in the median wage.
“Labour shortages have been a significant issue for the meat processing sector for some time so this agreement is a welcome boost to our own domestic recruitment efforts,” said MIA chief executive Sirma Karapeeva.
“Without sufficient employees, processors cannot run plants to the desired capacity, fully process all products and capture the maximum value. For example, the shortage of skilled knife people means that a reduced number of cuts can be prepared for the high value chilled market and the product is exported as frozen at a lower value. By-products are also sent to rendering instead of further processing,” she said.
“This deprives processors and farmers of revenue but also rural communities and the New Zealand economy of income. Meat processors are predominantly based in the regions so enabling meat processors to operate at their desired capacity will provide additional money to the communities where they are located.”
The industry is committed to training and employing New Zealanders first and works closely with the Ministry for Social Development and regional agencies to recruit people from local communities to work in plants, said Karapeeva.
“However, we struggle to fill roles and the meat processing sector is approximately 2,000 employees short at present. That means we must recruit a limited number of people from overseas. Less than five per cent of our workforce is from abroad.
“Ultimately, labour shortages mean fewer shifts and training opportunities for New Zealand workers.”
As part of any agreement, the meat industry will be seeking assurances any visas for overseas migrants will be processed without undue delay.
“We also look forward to working with the Government on Workforce Transition Plans and Industry Transformation Plans,” said Karapeeva.
According to MIA the meat processing sector is New Zealand’s largest manufacturing industry, employing 25,000 people.
