Labour department rejects pruner amnesty

Vineyard contractors seeking an amnesty for illegal workers pruning in Marlborough have been rebuffed by the Department of Labour.

Department deputy secretary workforce Mary Anne Thompson said it would not grant an amnesty to allow illegal overstayers in the region to work for the rest of the season.

The wine industry believes it could be 400 to 1000 workers short of the 3000 people required to complete pruning in Marlborough before Spring.

Some contractors have suggested the strong stand against overstayers in the past few months has made it difficult to find workers and were mooting the idea of an amnesty.

Such calls have been made in the past, and similarly turned down.

Marlborough Winegrowers spokesman Stuart Smith said it did not support the idea of an amnesty but added New Zealand as a whole had to address the issue of labour shortages.

"We have a real problem in New Zealand and until that chronic manpower shortage is addressed it (will remain) a real constraint on growth."

The industry favoured granting three-year working visas for visitors from some countries as a long-term answer, but the Government "wasn't keen" on that either, Mr Smith said.

Ms Thompson said the department would continue to respond to local information to remove overstayers working illegally in Marlborough.

There were a number of ongoing initiatives in place to lessen labour shortages and encouraged the industry to develop its own plans to alleviate the problem, she said.

Kaikoura electorate Labour candidate Brendon Burns reiterated a Labour-led government would not support calls from some in the wine industry to legalise overstayers.

That would "only endorse some of the worst contractors" who he believed were using illegal and often underpaid migrant labour to undercut established rates of pay.

- nzpa