Minister’s comments irk hospo
Wood’s Response to staff shortage warnings called ‘arrogant . . . and offensive’
Ahospitality industry group has derided Immigration Minister Michael Wood’s response to staff shortage warnings as arrogant, out of touch and offensive.
The final stage of a new accredited employer work visa launched yesterday, allowing people overseas to apply for work with an accredited Kiwi employer.
Hotel and restaurant operators have said a major foreign worker shortage could jeopardise New Zealand’s reputation as a quality tourist haven.
Wood said he accepted a lack of access to skilled labour was a big constraint for firms.
But on hospitality employer concerns, he also suggested bosses in “sectors that continue to pay low wages with insecure working conditions” consider making jobs more attractive.
“It’s insulting and just shows a complete lack of understanding of our sector,” Hospitality NZ president Jeremy Smith said.
A recent survey showed the sector’s average hourly wage was $24.43 to about $26, in contrast to the $23.65 living wage, he said
And critics of the industry rarely bothered to try to understand the sector and the industry needed more foreign workers promptly.
National Party immigration spokeswoman Erica Stanford yesterday said Wood’s comments were unhelpful and insulting to business owners.
She said businesses had battled through two years of closed borders,
taken on debt, and in Auckland endured a prolonged lockdown.
Stanford last month discovered at least 74,000 phase two residence visa applications were received since March — but barely 5 per cent had been processed by June 17.
And she said an online processing system called Advanced Digital Employer-led Processing and Targeting (Adept) kept crashing.
The Hotel Council has said the accredited employer scheme put unrealistic expectations on some businesses.
The scheme had required staff be paid not the minimum hourly wage of $21.20 but the median wage, $27.76.
That was amended to $25 an hour for specific construction, infrastructure, tourism and hospitality jobs.
Accreditation applications opened on May 23 and the Government yesterday said the vast majority of the 5666 applications received had been approved.