Virus hits forestry family hard
Family of three pushed to breaking point as outbreak continues to hammer NZ’s logging industry
Dion and Jeanette Weedon are trying to be brave.
Yet the economic fallout from the Coronavirus is pushing the Tokoroa couple to breaking point.
For almost 30 years, Dion has worked in the forestry industry and with Jeanette staying at home to raise their young daughter Ivy, he’s the main breadwinner.
But with the infection slowing China’s economy, a major New Zealand forestry export market, work has almost completely dried up for the process operator and hundreds of others throughout the country. The 45 year old told he’s never seen the industry hit so bad.
‘‘We’ve had similar hits to this but never for as long and I have been doing it pretty well since I left school at 16,’’ he said.
‘‘This is probably the worst it’s been because you just don’t know when or if it is going to improve.
‘‘Usually the market will start climbing up and you will go, sweet as, but this time it has dropped and it has come up but it is still not sweet as.
‘‘It is pretty scary because we don’t even know what the next month is going to look like and if you are not logging then you are not making any money so no-one gets paid.’’
The New Zealand Forest Industry Contractors Association (FICA) echoed Dion, claiming the workforce was now more vulnerable than in any previous market crash.
Chief executive Prue Younger said people outside the industry were largely unaware of the seriousness of the crisis.
‘‘We need to have politicians, government officials and the public outside of forestry fully understand just how dire our sector of the industry is for our contractors,’’ she said. ‘‘Logging and forest roading contractors who employ the bulk of the people and carry the highest debt have been hit extremely hard. The planting crews are the least affected for now, but their work will inevitably be impacted if depressed log prices continue long enough.’’
Younger said contractors don’t have cash reserves to sustain unemployed staff and the capital repayments on their machinery.
‘‘To top it off, we are now heading into winter when economic conditions typically only get tougher for contractors,’’ she said.
Dion said since the virus hit his weekly targets have been halved and job losses have been widespread.
‘‘You look at your target number and go, gosh, I am already there, it’s going to be a short week,’’ he said.
‘‘Three or four days is all we are doing. It has cut the old pay packet pretty bad’’.
Jeanette, who looks after her family’s finances, said the worry escalated when her husband arrived at work to be told it was the last day.
‘‘It came out of nowhere, just like that. They literally walked in the door and were told that as of Wednesday there was no more work and that was the end of the pay packet,’’ she said.
‘‘I was sitting here thinking that is not going to be enough to make the mortgage payment, what are we going to do?’’
She said after dozens of panicked phone calls Dion managed to find work in Ohakune almost two and a half hours away, only to then be called back to his other job. The stress of not knowing what will happen next is constantly playing on their minds.
‘‘It is definitely stressful and there are a hell of a lot of other people in the same predicament or worse,’’ she said.
Log Transport Safety Council (LTSC) chairman Warwick Wilshier said trucking contractors were mirroring the forestry industry.
‘‘The lack of truck drivers prior to the Covid-19 crisis was bad enough and now their drivers are seen to be an easy target for work in other industries like horticulture, freight and road maintenance,’’ he said.