Reader opinion: Cameron Rd roadwork struggles; Scramble to find skilled workers

Cameron Rd roadworks. Photo / Alex Cairns

OPINION

Letters to the editor:

Re Cameron Rd businesses struggling due to roadworks (News, April 22). I, like many other readers of the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, read this very good article on Saturday.

I have been involved for 25 years in business (retail, industrial, and hospitality) in Tauranga and I think the retailers especially have never had such a bad time. In the past three years, they had the following:

• Covid pandemic with total interruptions of their activity.
• Fortunately, some landlords have been really good and given some rent relief but not all.
• Tauranga City Council decided to increase commercial rates. These rates are often paid by tenants.
• Then, mostly in the CBD, these new parking meters are not easy to operate for some elderly people.
• And now some retailers on Cameron Rd can see their regular clients going elsewhere because of these roadworks which seem to last forever.

Business owners are tired and I am unsure if they can take much more.

I would suggest it would be fair for the council to give a generous refund or a discount on the council rates to the businesses affected by the roadworks.

A. Collin

Tauranga

Premium comments: Job market drops

Job listings in the Bay of Plenty have fallen 15 per cent in a year on the employment site Seek as more employers don’t replace staff as recessionary pressures begin to bite.

The news comes as companies are sourcing skilled migrants from overseas because they can’t find Kiwis to do the work.

Read the full story: Employers not replacing staff as recession hits while others scramble to find skilled workers.

From what I am seeing in the boardrooms across the company the recession is already here, with many companies planning to “right size” in response to the Government overcooking the economy and now the RBNZ having to react with the only tool they have (OCR). If this Government does not rein in its own spending, we need to get ready for a hard landing.

- John M

Just waiting for the mass exodus to Australia. NZ will become the back door for immigrants wanting to get to Australia, who don’t yet qualify under Australian rules. Watch this space.

- Peter M

Recession in NZ. Better wages and conditions in Aussie with cheaper basic prices. We’re off to the airport ... one-way tickets only.

- Tim T

We don’t have people to do critical jobs and on the other hand, very capable people are getting made redundant? Can we conclude that we have reached a state of absolute chaos? This happens when those at the top think that the economy is like a rubber band and they can stretch and ease it at their own will.

- Rajbir S

• Republished comments may be edited at the editor’s discretion.

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