Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke's Bay orchard workers doing '70 hour weeks' to pick fruit as tourist workers leave

By Laura Wiltshire
Hawkes Bay Today·
16 Apr, 2019 01:21 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

It might have been a bumper crop this year, but a lack of workers is making it hard to get apples off the trees in Hawke's Bay. Photo / File

It might have been a bumper crop this year, but a lack of workers is making it hard to get apples off the trees in Hawke's Bay. Photo / File

A Hawke's Bay grower says the Government's seasonal labour shortage extension process is too slow, and forced him to lay off 22 staff members at the height of the harvest.

General manager of Yummy Apples Paul Paynter said tourist workers who had applied for visa changes under the old labour shortage had to reapply when it was extended.

"They've got to wait around for a week and get their passport shipped back from Wellington, so they are not going to do that."

He said they had left at the height of the harvest.

"Having the seasonal labour shortage end on April 5 was spectacularly, almost the most inconvenient plausible date.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We just needed those people for about two more weeks."

Yummy Apples had harvested about 80 per cent of its crop, but he knew some of the bigger orchards were struggling, with only 60-65 per cent of their crop harvested, as they had larger crops and needed more pickers.

"If you need to find 100 (people) it's a bit more difficult."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said, despite the crunch, they had maintained a six days' a week working policy, but knew of orchards where workers were in the field seven days' a week.

"I know one of the big players had a 60-hour working week policy, and they've lifted it to 70 hours, and they are working seven days."

"It's like driving on the roads, you don't want to be out there driving if you are really exhausted, you are more likely to make a bad decision."

He said it was not an issue of pay, the issue is that the workers simply are not there.

Discover more

Dazzling growth for new Hawke's Bay apple

17 Apr 06:17 PM
Agribusiness

Rotten reality: Apples still on trees in July a reminder of Hawke's Bay picking struggles

07 Jul 02:53 AM
New Zealand

'Heaviest hail in 20 years': Orchard owners fear for Hawke's Bay stonefruit after storm

01 Oct 10:31 PM

He said the best solution was the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, but it needed to be changed to be fit for purpose.

"At the moment your RSE allocations, and the decision, is made on a year-by-year basis."

"We have to have at least a model where we can say, the number will go up and down, here's the criteria, if unemployment goes up your numbers are going to get cut by this much."

He said that would have flow on effects, including growers being able to invest in worker accommodation with a level of certainty that the beds will be filled.

National's horticulture spokesman Lawrence Yule said he was glad the shortage had been extended, but it was disappointing labour had been lost between it being declared and extended.

He said he understood everything was being done that could be this year, but there needed to be changes going forward.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"In the current climate we've got massive growing pressure, massive picking pressure, and very low unemployment, we need to think very differently than we might have in the past."

Immigration NZ Manager Matt Hoskin said under immigration instructions, visitors are only entitled to work for up to six weeks, and can only work in a region with a declared labour shortage.

"Immigration instructions do not allow for a variation of conditions to be granted for longer than six weeks."

Since the extension of the labour shortage, and a declaration of one in the Bay of Plenty on April 5, INZ has received 241 applications have been received and 72 of those have been approved.

The Government has promised to review the RSE scheme this year.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Woman tied to a pole and gagged during 100 assaults from partner

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema

Hawkes Bay Today

Hastings drinking water and waste water upgrades continue


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Woman tied to a pole and gagged during 100 assaults from partner
Hawkes Bay Today

Woman tied to a pole and gagged during 100 assaults from partner

Court of Appeal upholds jail term of three years and two months.

14 Jul 05:00 AM
Premium
Premium
'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema
Hawkes Bay Today

'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema

14 Jul 04:29 AM
Hastings drinking water and waste water upgrades continue
Hawkes Bay Today

Hastings drinking water and waste water upgrades continue

13 Jul 10:13 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP