HortNZ levy vote looming
Commercial fruit and vegetable growers are being urged to their say in the upcoming levy referendum to enable Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) to continue its work for the sector.
Horticulture NZ's chair has hit back at claims that the RSE workers are being treated like “slaves” and that the ill treatment of them is “systemic”.
Barry O’Neil, a kiwifruit grower since the 1980s, has worked for both MPI and Kiwifruit Vine Health. He says the issues raised are being blown out of all proportion.
“I reject a number of the accusations being made and am very concerned about suggestions that industry is not complying with the strict conditions laid down for the employment of RSE workers,” he told Rural News.
“I have yet to find accommodation that I would categorise in the bad territory.”
However, O’Neil does concede that in a scheme of 19,000 RSE workers there will be one or two individuals who will not meet the standards. But he says the Labour Inspectorate has been very quick to identify those who break the rules.
O’Neil adds that the RSE scheme is very hard to get into because of the strict compliance conditions that employers must meet.
Rural News was recently told by a major grower that the conditions are so strict and the cost of meeting these so high and time consuming that they avoid employing RSE workers where possible. Others have said that the problem is anything but systemic and that certain individuals are making accusations to benefit their own particular causes.
O’Neil points out in a number of cases the RSE workers themselves decide how many of them will be in a room. He says they come from environments where communal sleeping arrangements are common. “Often RSE workers prefer to be in rooms where there are others, rather than being on their own."
He adds that employers generally give RSE workers an opportunity to have a room of their own, but that they seldom take up this offer.
“We have got to remember that this scheme has been reviewed by the World Bank and judged as the best mobility seasonal labour scheme in the world,” O’Neil says.
South Waikato farm manager Ben Purua’s amazing transformation from gang life to milking cows was rewarded with the Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer award last night.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
Family and solidarity shone through at the 75 years of Ferdon sale in Otorohanga last month.
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