Growers struggle for skilled workers

Southern tulip growers are worried reductions to immigrant numbers may mean they ultimately have to shut their doors.

The concerns were raised at a visit from National immigration spokesman Simon Bridges yesterday.

Triflor operations manager Rudi Verplancke said the tulip industry had a problem with finding skilled workers locally for tulip farming.

The seasonal nature of the work made it difficult to attract Kiwi workers with the necessary skills, with growers often bringing over Dutch workers during their season.

‘‘It takes a long time to get the feel and know exactly what’s required, it’s not something you can pluck out of the rack at work and income.’’

Bringing in skilled Dutch workers had a positive effect on local employment, with an additional five local unskilled workers being able to be hired for every skilled immigrant, Verplancke said.

‘‘Labour is not a problem, we’ve got enough people here, its just to get skilled people in with a background in the industry.’’

Triflor hired 12 Dutch workers in the past season, but Verplancke said the immigration process was off getting harder and harder.

If immigration numbers got so tight that growers were unable to hire from overseas he said his farm would have to ‘‘close the doors’’.

Van Eeden Tulips farmer Mike van Eeden said the seasonal nature of the work made it less appealing for local workers to gain the necessary experience.

‘‘You can’t train someone all year to be there next year, because there’s three or four months in the winter where there’s nothing, and when there’s nothing they want to go somewhere else.’’

Before the current season he said he had lost one of his experienced staff for that reason.

‘‘Her husband got injured in some sort of accident and she was desperate for that winter employment so she left. We’ve lost a major skill set and she was a Kiwi, that was the good thing about it, she lived here we didn’t have to worry about dragging her from somewhere else.’’

Bridges said he had heard similar complaints from businesses in New Zealand since the election.

‘‘Businesses, because they haven’t got certainty about what the policy is in immigration, can’t plan to grow ... and they’re actually planning to go backwards.’’

Businesses urgently needed Immigration Minister Iain LeesGalloway to clarify the government’s intentions around restricting immigration, he said.