increase font size
Southland sharemilker Jason Herrick says the Government is again giving farmers "the middle finger".
A Government directive for farmers to pay new overseas workers higher rates has been slammed.
While farmers welcome the Government's decision to issue border class exemptions for another 200 dairy workers, the increase in pay levels is causing anger.
Farmers employing these extra workers must pay them $92,000 per annum or 1.75 times the current median wage for an assistant dairy farm manager.
Those employed as herd manager must be paid $79,500/year which is 1.5 times the current median wage for dairy herd manager roles.
Federated Farmers Southland sharemilker chair Jason Herrick told Dairy News that increases in pay levels is his biggest issue.
"Setting those levels for junior staff and senior staff creates a whole new set of problems with current staff," Herrick says.
"Now they will feel hard done by, so to make things smooth sailing we now have to increase the wages of our current staff to be seen to be dealing with pay equality.
"With the current payout that's all very well and good, but is the current Government guaranteeing the payout to stay there?
"If not, what happens when payout drops to $5, which is where most farms expenses are sitting?"
Herrick believes this is just another move by the Government to continue giving farmers "the middle finger".
"Most businesses will fail in the future if we see payouts drop and current pay levels keep heading in that direction, just to encourage us to employ New Zealanders that just are not there to work on farms.
"We have a long hard road ahead and I am going to keep the pressure on the Government till they start to listen and recognise they are creating all the issues we are currently having."
Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor says it is clear from conversations with the dairy sector that it is facing workforce pressures.
"These border exceptions will go a long wy towards relieving those pressures," he says.
The exceptions will allow up to 150 dairy farm workers in management roles on farms and up to 50 workers in dairy assistant roles, along with their partners and dependent children.
At the same time O'Connor has told sector leaders to ensure there is a strong incentive for New Zealanders to take up entry level roles and develop careers in dairying.
"The Government and food and fibres sector have been working hard to mitigate worker shortages by training and upskilling New Zealanders, but we know that takes time. This announcement recognises the immediate need for additional expertise to come through our borders.
"Dairy managers have specialist skills developed over many years, which we can't replicate overnight. With the new dairy season kicking off, migrant dairy farm workers will supplement the domestic workforce and provide critical support."
Herrick says the extra 200 workers is a token gesture from the Government.
It won't even make a small dent in the situations vacant market, he says. "We need over 1,000 in Southland alone to start getting close to relieving any sort of pressure."
OPINION: Feds Southland 'pres' Jason Herrick and colleagues who continue the good fight against bureaucratic madness on behalf of farmers, have had another win - for now, at least - getting a court decision granting a 'stay' on rules in the Southland Water and Land Plan until changes can be made to section 70 of the RMA by central goverment, somtheing they clearly signaled after the election.
Federated Farmers says it welcomes a recent court decision which granted a stay on rules in the Southland Water and Land Plan until legislative changes can be made by government.
OPINION: Federated Farmers' latest farmer confidence survey results won’t surprise too many people.
For the primary sector, 2024 would go down as one of the toughest years on record. Peter Burke reports.
Southland Farmers will be breathing a sigh of relief that central Government is stepping in to stop Environment Southland from introducing unworkable and expensive new farming rules.
Federated Farmers supports a review of the current genetic technology legislation but insists that a farmer’s right to either choose or reject it must be protected.
New Zealand’s top business leaders are urging the US Administration to review “unjustified and discriminatory tariffs” imposed on Kiwi exporters.
New tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump signal an uncertain future, but New Zealand farmers know how to adapt to changing conditions, says Auriga Martin, chief executive of Farm Focus.
A global trade war beckons, which is bad news for a small open economy like New Zealand, warns Mark Smith ASB senior economist.
Carterton's Awakare Farm has long stood as a place where family, tradition and innovation intersect.
Fonterra says the US continues to be an important market for New Zealand dairy and the co-op.
OPINION: Is it the beginning of the end for Greenpeace?
OPINION: The good times felt across the dairy sector weren't lost at last week's Beef + Lamb NZ annual meeting.
