North's kiwifruit labour force well regulated, says rep

Kiwifruit grower Dermott Malley says thgere are unlikely to be employment breaches in Northland.

A Maungatapere kiwifruit grower says he doubts if employers in the industry in Northland are breaching labour standards.

Dermott Malley said he was deeply disappointed at the results of a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment inspection on Bay of Plenty (BoP) kiwifruit orchards that found many labour hire contractors had failed employment obligations.

"I would think it highly unlikely it could happen in Northland," Mr Malley said.

"But this result is very disappointing, people have the right to fair employment."

The recently released report related to 2015/2016year, before an international protocol - the Good Agriculture Policy (GAP) - was widely signed up to in the industry, he said.

Northland growers were completely GAP compliant.

As well, the majority of Kerikeri contractors were part of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme, with strict inbuilt labour conditions, and were regularly audited.

Whangarei growers were not authorised to employ RSE workers but had a regular, often permanent labour force, Mr Malley said.

He is the Northland representative on the Kiwifruit Growers Association but said he could be quoted only as a local contractor regarding the MBIE Labour Inspectorate's BoP sting.

Although reports of more than 50 per cent of the audited BoP contractors failed labour regulations in some way, only 62 companies were audited, with the breaches applying to only 8 per cent of all kiwifruit employers, Mr Malley said.

"Regardless, it's not good enough. There should be no breaches.''

Inspectors carried out the audits on the 62 companies and interviewed 687 workers over three months last year.

Most of the 94 breaches related to seasonal migrant or casual workers.

Fifty three per cent failed to meet standards such as providing employment agreements and paying at least the minimum wage.

Some of the employers immediately corrected the issues, but 20 improvement notices and six enforceable undertakings were issued, and two employers were fined $1000 each.

Significant wage arrears were uncovered, with one employer owing more than $25,000 to employees.

The Labour Inspectorate recognised migrant workers were vulnerable and were less likely to be aware of their rights and entitlements than New Zealand workers, Labour Inspectorate regional manager Kevin Finnegan said.