Thursday, 22 June 2017 07:55

New rules in danger of squeezing out valued workers

Written by  Nigel Malthus
New rules on migrant workers will impact the dairy industry, says DairyNZ. New rules on migrant workers will impact the dairy industry, says DairyNZ.

DairyNZ says proposed new rules on migrant workers will make it harder to employ and retain good staff.

Submissions to MBIE over the changes have now closed, but Dan Schmidt, of the DairyNZ people team, is encouraging farmers to talk to their MPs if they think their businesses will be affected. The new rules are due to take effect in August.

Under the proposal, all migrant workers earning at the low end of the pay scale – less than $23.49 an hour – would be eligible only for one-year work visas, renewable for three years before a one-year mandatory stand-down.

Partners and children would not be allowed in unless they qualified for a visa in their own right.

DairyNZ says that would apply to many workers in the industry.

Those earning at the high end – more than $35.24 an hour – would be eligible to apply for five-year visas, to bring family and to have a pathway to residency.

However, workers earning $23.49 - $35.24 an hour would be eligible for three-year visas, with family – but only if they were classified as skilled workers under the ANZSCO (Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations) system.

That includes farm manager and assistant farm manager, but it leaves lower-skilled classifications including herd manager and dairy assistant eligible only for the lowest-level visas. They would have to be earning unfeasibly high wages before being allowed off the bottom rung.

“There’s no mid-skill band for these guys,” said Schmidt.

$35.24 an hour represented an annual salary of about $73,000 for a 40-hour week or about $90,000 for a 50-hour week. He said it was a quite high threshold for them to have to meet.

Schmidt said the affected workers were making a valuable contribution to the industry.

“In every interaction with people that we have, [farmers] say these guys are as important as the farm managers.”

Schmidt said employment in the dairy industry was not necessarily a case of choosing either migrants or Kiwis. A stable core workforce gave farmers a better chance of taking on the local school leaver.

More like this

DairyNZ board sets new levy rate

DairyNZ has set a new levy rate of 4.5c/kgMS from 1 June 2025 and aims to keep the levy at no more than this rate for a minimum of three years.

Featured

Farmers urged not to be complacent about TB

New Zealand's TBfree programme has made great progress in reducing the impact of the disease on livestock herds, but there’s still a long way to go, according to Beef+Lamb NZ.

Editorial: Making wool great again

OPINION: Otago farmer and NZ First MP Mark Patterson is humble about the role that he’s played in mandating government agencies to use wool wherever possible in new and refurbished buildings.

National

Machinery & Products

Farmer-led group buys Novag

While the name and technology remain unchanged and new machines will continue to carry the Novag name, all the assets,…

Buhler name to go

Shareholders at a special meeting have approved a proposed deal that will see Buhler Industries, the publicly traded Versatile and…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Make it 1000%!

OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of…

Own goal

OPINION: The irony of President Trump’s tariff obsession is that the worst damage may be done to his own people.

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter