A week after Sealord confirmed it would axe 323 jobs from its Nelson mussel factory, two South Island seafood companies have applied to import 100 migrant labourers.
Motueka-based Talley's Fisheries and Marlborough-based Aotearoa Seafood Ltd have said the applications were made in a tight labour market before Sealordconfirmed its redundancies, the Nelson Mail newspaper reported today.
Talley's Fisheries has lodged an application with the Immigration Department to employ 70 migrant workers from Asia or South America in its seafood and vegetable processing plants, and more as fishing crew.
Director Andrew Talley said the labour shortage had been acute, although it had started to soften with the economic downturn.
Mr Talley said the 70 factory jobs it was seeking to fill were in Blenheim, where the labour market had been particularly tight due to demand for workers in the grape industry.
It was not cheaper to fill the jobs with migrants, he said, and New Zealanders would still be first in line for work.
Some redundant Sealord staff had applied for fishing crew positions.
Aotearoa Seafood Ltd has also applied for up to 30 processing workers.
Chief executive Sam Hobson said the local labour market was dire. The company employed about 150 staff but it was a "constant battle" recruiting and retaining them.
Service and Food Workers Union assistant national secretary Neville Donaldson said migrant labour meant employers did not have to compete for staff "which takes away the workers' ability to bargain".
A spokeswoman for the Immigration Department said migrant workers would receive temporary work permits and be expected to return to their homeland once their employment ended.
