Growers must be pip-squeaky clean
International pressure means Kiwi growing must be free from poor practice,
Fear of being blacklisted by UK and European supermarkets is behind a primary industries exporter drive to stamp out labour abuses in vineyards and orchards.
Investigations by the Labour Inspectorate in the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has revealed exploitation of migrant workers, who are sometimes paid less than minimum wage.
But supermarkets in Britain and Germany are saying enough is enough, and driven by domestic law such as the British Modern Slavery Act and concerned customers, they are ditching suppliers which cannot prove they are exploitation-free.
As a result, New Zealand banks now view breaches of labour law by borrowers as a lending risk because businesses pinged by the Labour Inspectorate risk their customers vanishing overnight.
There’s been a rash of highprofile abuses of contract-labour revealed in recent months with six scandals breaking in May, June and July alone.
Gary Jones from Pipfruit New Zealand, which oversees the apple and pear industry, said exporters now have no choice but to meet the Global GAP standards created by UK and EU supermarkets, to assure shoppers their groceries were not tainted by animal cruelty, environmental damage or abuse of workers.
No bad apples
The pipfruit industry, which recorded $720 million in exports last year, has been quickest off the mark, in part because it is dominated by a small number of large companies sophisticated enough to recognise the threat to their brands and businesses.
All New Zealand’s pipfruit exporters are Global GAP accredited, and embrace the GRASP (Global Risk Assessment on Social Practices) commitments on worker health, safety and welfare, which includes labour standards, and which Jones has been personally involved in developing.
Naming no names, Jones said a German supermarket recently cancelled a contract with a Kiwi grower because it hadn’t completed one part of its Global GAP documentation.
It was a small infringement of the regime, but the supermarket simply switched to another grower who could prove their compliance.
Plausible deniability
Plant-based industries are especially susceptible to labour abuses, especially among migrant workers.
Crop-growers are seasonal employers. Orchards and vineyards need lots of workers in peak periods of pruning and picking. That led to the rise of labour contract companies.
Growers are a step removed from the hiring, and may have no idea whether workers’ rights are being respected, or whether they can legally work at all.
Under New Zealand law, it is the contract companies, not the growers, who face fines and ‘‘improvement notices’’, if labour law breaches are uncovered.
But retailers don’t prosecute, Jones says, they just take their business elsewhere.
‘‘Under New Zealand law there’s plausible deniability, but under Global GAP there isn’t. If you plead ignorance, it doesn’t matter, you will still lose accreditation.’’
The onus is now on growers to ensure they aren’t turning a blind eye.
‘‘There’s been a sea-change in the last 12 months,’’ Jones says.
The response
Industries are responding.
New Zealand Winegrowers, which has around 1500 members, last year created a labour strategy for the first time.
Chief executive Jeffrey Clarke says it’s been educating winegrowers, and building their capabilities.
Its newly-issued Working for you guide guide doesn’t beat around the bush: ‘‘In the digital age, how well we walk the talk in caring for each of our workers, and treating them fairly and respectfully, is just one click away from global attention.’’
The members-only area of its website has a blacklist of labour contract companies which have run afoul of the Labour Inspectorate.
Media power
New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (NZKGI) has just moved to require third-party audits of all labour contract companies used be members, says chief executive Nikki Johnson.
It needed to. Just last month the Labour Inspectorate issued a media release saying half of the 62 Bay of Plenty kiwifruit labour hire companies it inspected last year were breaching workers’ rights.
The release came more than eight months after the inspections, giving the industry a long time to prepare for the adverse publicity.
But still Johnson says: ‘‘We are pretty unhappy in the scenario that has played out in the media in the last couple of weeks.’’
It was embarrassing, and did not reflect the majority of the industry, she says.
Kiwifruit are exported by Zespri, which has Global GAP accreditation, covering 937 producers whose fruit it exported under the Zespri brand.
Bad news spreads
Between May and July the Labour Inspectorate revealed breaches by employers including an asparagus grower, a vineyard, a dairy farm and a courier company.
And when the inspectorate prepares to issue a press release, industries tremble.
Jones cited an example of targeted inspections of nine packing houses in early 2016. ‘‘Seven were found to be noncompliant,’’ he said.
Improvement notices were issued.
The press release was picked up in the papers here. Next morning the stories were read in the northern hemisphere, and phones here started ringing in the middle of the night.
European and British supermarkets wanted to know their apples were not tainted.
And, Jones said: ‘‘We had a major New Zealand bank which wanted to know who was involved.’’
The implication was clear: Breach labour laws, and your business may no longer be bankable.
Jones notes the MBIE press releases did not include the names of growers, vineyards, or export brands, only the contract companies.
MIGRANT LABOUR
Primary industries wouldn’t function without migrant labour, Johnson says.
‘‘During our peak season, we don’t have enough, even if every single person on unemployment benefit were available, we would still struggle,’’ she says.
Jones agrees we should not demonise temporary migrant labour.
Pacific Islands rely on it, with massive temporary migrations of workers, who take money back with them to boost their home economies.
The number of temporary work visas issued every year has now risen to over 190,000.
‘‘We are exploring how to connect the consumer with people from developing countries in real need,’’ Jones says.
It could be a tonic for the increasingly negative portrayal of temporary migrant workers.