Labour pains for wine industry
To grow any further, the Marlborough wine industry needs accommodation and it needs labour. Reporter Oliver Lewis takes a look at the challenge facing the $1 billion industry.
Behind every bottle of Marlborough sauvignon blanc, the wine that put New Zealand on the map, lies the unseen work of thousands of pairs of hands.
From a handful of vineyards in the 1970s to the engine room of a pumping export economy, the Marlborough wine industry has transformed the physical and social landscape of the region.
It has brought in thousands of workers and millions of dollars, but its current growth, driven by US demand, has run up against twin stumbling blocks: increased demand for labour and a shortage of accommodation.
Over the next four years, wine companies are predicted to add another 6000 hectares to their vineyard holdings, taking the total number of vines in the region to around 60 million.
The resulting influx of workers – around 2000 will be needed – has raised questions about how infrastructure, housing and services in Blenheim, the hub for worker accommodation in Marlborough, will cope.
Kaikoura MP Stuart Smith has warned house prices would go up and rental stocks would be depleted if workers were housed in residential properties instead of purpose-built facilities around the town.
There have also been questions raised about who should be responsible for accommodation, and whether wine companies, who stand to benefit greatly from the expansion, could be doing more to help the labour contractors who supply the bulk of the housing.
Aaron Jay of Blenheim is the managing director of Hortus Ltd, one of the labour contracting companies in Marlborough that brings in workers, mainly from the Pacific Islands, through the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme.
He said the responsibility for providing accommodation lay with contractors, who had to prove they had adequate housing in place before bringing in RSE workers.
‘‘The RSE employers are running a business and profiting off the backs of RSE workers, so it’s their responsibility to house them and meet the requirements of the Marlborough District Council and Immigration New Zealand,’’ he said.
However, wine companies should consider entering into joint ventures with labour contractors, investing in new accommodation facilities so they could secure their labour needs for the future,’’ he said.
‘‘Labour contractors could be going to wine companies and saying, ‘I can’t do it on my own, I’ve got the guys, you’ve got the money, let’s sort something out’.
‘‘It would give the companies peace of mind, because they would effectively be locking in their labour needs for the foreseeable future.’’
Other labour contractors echoed similar sentiments.
Focus Labour Solutions Ltd owner Craig Mill said wine companies, which owned large swathes of land around the region, could supply sections for developers or labour contractors to construct accommodation.
‘‘The wine companies and wineries are the biggest stakeholders, and they’re doing the least about the problem,’’ he said.
However, both Mill and Jay said they were confident the industry would be able to source enough labour.
But if more investment did not occur, the quality of worker accommodation might suffer as a result, Mill said.
Earlier this year, Hortus Ltd bought a complex south of Blenheim called Duncannon, allowing them to house all their workers in one place.
Jay said this style of accommodation was preferable to taking up residential houses in Blenheim, as it gave them greater oversight and the ability to provide better pastoral care.