RSE living wage recognises skills
A new Government requirement that employers must pay Registered Seasonal Worker scheme workers the living wage is unlikely to change what Kiwi horticultural workers earn, industry experts say.
Last week, the Government announced it would allow 2000 horticultural workers from the Pacific to enter New Zealand in the new year under strict conditions, to help plug labour shortages in the horticultural and wine sectors.
As part of the concession, companies will be required to cover the cost of managed isolation, estimated at $4722 a person, in addition to paying the workers a minimum of $22.10 an hour.
New Zealand Apples and Pears chief executive Alan Pollard said the point of paying the living wage to Registered Seasonal Worker (RSE) workers was a reflection of their skill and experience.
‘‘The assumption is the relatively small number coming back into the country need to be as productive as possible. If that’s the case, their wages would reflect those skills and experience.
‘‘The reality is that a lot of RSEs working in the orchard on
average earn more than that anyway because they are such highly skilled people.’’
Similarly-skilled Kiwis’ wages should reflect that but it would be unlikely to see a blanket rise in wages for Kiwi horticultural workers because most did not have the experience and were still new to the job, he said.
‘‘With someone starting out, it’s more likely that we would have to top them up to the minimum wage because they wouldn’t be productive enough.’’
Hawke’s Bay organic apple
grower, John Bostock, said that worker pay was an issue being discussed industry wide.
Asked if pay was likely to match the living wage that RSE workers would receive, he said it was ‘‘certainly heading in that direction’’, but there weren’t enough ‘‘able and fit’’ Kiwis to do the job, despite an extensive recruitment campaign.
Bostock was conducting pay negotiations, he said.
Cromwell summer fruit grower Simon Webb said he traditionally employed a lot of
students, some of whom started at age 15 or 16.
‘‘It’s kind of hard to be paying them a living wage, they’re still at home with their parents,’’ he said.
But a in a few years they became valuable workers and their wages increased, Webb said.
‘‘You’ve got to do your budgets. It’s the biggest expense on an orchard. If everyone’s wages go up 10 per cent to 15 per cent, it could be a 5 per cent increase in the orchard’s expenditures for the year without the efficiency gains. So where does that come from?
‘‘It doesn’t matter if its RSE or Kiwis, it’s [whether] they are new to the job. They’re still unskilled and it takes them a few years.’’
If employers offered good conditions, they could get a high rate of returning workers, Webb said. Of the about 20 student workers he employed last year, only one had not returned this season.
Many RSE workers had been coming to New Zealand for a decade and also had a level of maturity not found in students because they were generally older, he said.
Students’ skill levels increased each year and they ‘‘definitely’’ became as skilled as RSE workers in time, Webb said.
Labour supply company Thornhill in October provided Stuff with the average amount it had paid pickers, pruners and development block workers since the start of the picking season this year.
Business manager Nick Bibby said the base rate was minimum wage plus holiday pay, but workers who wanted to earn more could do so by working faster, he said.
The average rate paid ranged from $21.64 for apple picking in March to $27.36 for pruning in July. ‘‘Over the year, we average about $25 an hour. Last year it was $25.44,’’ Bibby said.