Bay of Plenty's kiwifruit industry relies on RSE seasonal workers. Photo / NZME
Repatriation flight plans for hundreds of the Bay of Plenty's RSE seasonal workers, many of whom have been here since before the first Covid lockdown last year, are under way.
Meanwhile, the first stage of a one-way quarantine-free travel pilot scheme for RSE seasonal workers from Vanuatu, Samoa, and Tonga is set to begin next week.
Earlier this week, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor announced the Pacific Islands seasonal worker pilot scheme.
"We want to provide certainty to the horticulture industry that we are moving forward with safe quarantine-free travel for RSE workers in time for the upcoming picking season."
O'Connor said important benefits flowed from the RSE scheme for New Zealand, Pacific partner countries, workers, and their families and communities.
"We will be closely monitoring this first stage of one-way quarantine-free travel.
"Our intention remains to broaden eligibility for quarantine-free entry to New Zealand from these countries, and Tokelau, when we can be sure it is safe to do so."
Hipkins said a "cautious approach" to opening up quarantine-free travel with the Pacific.
was needed despite Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu having no Covid-19 community cases.
"We know first-hand how quickly Delta can spread if it gets in. To minimise risk we are putting in place additional health measures for these workers.
Workers must have at least one vaccination dose, complete a seven-day self-isolation period on arrival and return negative Covid tests on day one and day five.
"We are starting solely with RSE workers for several reasons. RSE workers come to New Zealand in a cohort and stay in employer-arranged accommodation," Hipkins said.
"This helps mitigate any additional risk from Covid-19 by ensuring they go into self-isolation in a pre-organised place immediately upon arrival."
Up to 14,400 RSE workers normally come through New Zealand each year, with about 10,500 in the country at peak harvesting times pre-Covid.
In August, there were 7000 RSE workers in the country, about 2500 in the Bay of Plenty.
Seeka's general manager of corporate services Kate Bryant said they had received written approval to recruit up to 1000 RSE workers for the Bay of Plenty region, with about one-third coming from each country.
"We have just received the approval from MBIE's regional committee last night and we are still working through the paperwork so we can begin the recruitment process.
She said the exact number of workers would depend on employers' needs.
"But anything that gets more workers into our kiwifruit industry labour space has to be a good thing," she said.
"We always knew the speed of growth of the Bay's booming kiwifruit industry would mean there was going to be a shortage of sufficient labour but Covid has definitely sped that up a heck of a lot faster."
The scheme was a step in the right direction but there was still more work to be done to find solutions to our labour shortfall, she said.
Bryant said Seeka was doing a lot of repatriation flights for RSE workers in the coming months, many of who came here at the end of 2019 and summer 2020.
Others went through the MIQ quarantine system in February this year.
She said the first of those flights involved about 100 workers from Samoa who left New Zealand on September 30 after all being vaccinated and Covid-tested.
A further 10, from Vanuatu, were heading home next week, followed by 40 from Samoa on October 21, she said.
Any RSE workers from Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu who wanted to apply to stay in New Zealand would have to leave the country to do so, she said.
"Depending on flight availability, we plan to have 600 RSE workers heading home between now and Christmas, with a mix of Samoan, Tongan, Vanuatu, and Malaysian nationals.
"Most of these workers want to go home to their families," she said.
Bryant said the hope was that some of the workers heading home could return to New Zealand in June or July next year in time for next winter's pruning season.
She said Seeka was paying for the repatriation flights.
Twenty-six workers from Kiribas, who arrived pre-lockdown 2020, are stuck here as their homeland does not have a repatriation agreement with New Zealand.
"They would love to go home too but it comes down to whether their country will accept them...Their visas also do not allow them to apply for New Zealand residency."
Bryant said arrangements were being made to relocate these workers to Northland to give them an opportunity to work in a new area.
Colin Bond, the chief executive of NZ Kiwifruit Growers Inc, said the pilot scheme was a positive step, but it was not the complete answer to the labour shortage in the sector.
"It's fantastic news. It's something we've been advocating for months to happen.
"But we have still got a hole in the Bay of Plenty because of the backpackers. We normally have about 6500 working in the kiwifruit industry."
Having enough seasonal workers to carry out winter pruning, including thinning of the fruit and vine management, was vital to ensure a bumper crop next year, he said.
Kiwifruit grower Neil Trebilco, who has orchards in Whakamarama and Katikati, said the scheme would ease some of the labour force pressures on employers.
However, labour costs had also been driven up with the lifting of the minimum wage for RSE workers and employers having to pay for quarantine spaces for their workers.
"This is a significant extra cost for growers, especially for those who are already struggling to cope financially," he said.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley said any progress to make it easier to bring in extra hands for the primary sector was a good thing.
"The horticultural sector, in particular, called in a lot of favours to get through the last picking season but those favours were unlikely to continue in the future.
"The Government has publicly said they want long-term change to using migrant labour.
However, these substantial changes impacting the country's large industry sectors need to have a clear transition plan," he said.
The jury's marathon deliberations ran for two weeks.