Labour shortages easing

Under the Accredited Employer Work Visa programme, meat companies are finding it easier to source migrant workers, says the Meat Industry Association (MIA).

It claims that labour shortages cost the meat sector $600 million in lost exports over the past two years – due to carcasses not being fully processed and valuable co-products like tripe and offal being put to one side.

MIA chief executive Sirma Karapeeva says the sector has seen improvements this year.

“It’s getting easier now to source migrant workers,” she told Rural News. “We are still short of workers and there are some delays in processing visas, but the labour situation is improving.”

Another labour issue being dealt with by NZ meat processors is availability of halal butchers. Two cohorts of halal butchers have been trained in Fiji and Indonesia and are being recruited by processors.

Karapeeva says halal butchers need unique skillsets – both technical and religious attributes.

The halal butchers in Fiji and Indonesia have been trained to meet NZ requirements and qualifications.

Halal certified products contribute $4.1 billion of annual export earnings. Processing companies across New Zealand rely on 250 halal butchers, who make up just 1% of the total workforce.

Karapeeva says the sector can typically recruit only 100 halal butchers domestically due to this country’s small Muslim population and the nature of the job.

“A religious component is a fundamental part of the job because they must be a practicing Muslim, which we obviously cannot train for. We have no other choice but to look overseas to fill the vacancies,” she says.

“Halal processing helps our industry capture greater value for our products.”

She adds that having each animal processed by a halal butcher means that different parts of the same carcass can be sent to various markets around the world.

“Halal processing helps our industry capture greater value for our products. Having each animal processed by a halal butcher means that different parts of the same carcass can be sent to various markets around the world.”

From March this year, halal butchers were added to the Government’s Green List work to residence tier, which the MIA described as a positive first step.

This meant that halal butchers, who joined the Green List from March 2023, are able to count time on a work visa from 29 September 2021 towards their work to residence requirement.