The protest was a cry for help from local hospitality business people. Photo / Andrew Warner
The protest was a cry for help from local hospitality business people. Photo / Andrew Warner
A Rotorua restaurateur of nearly 40 years warns of "catastrophic consequences" if the country's immigration issues are not resolved quickly.
About 30 businesses struggling for staff closed their doors today in protest of a system they say is too expensive and too complicated.
Gathering at Rotorua's hospitality hub Eat Streat, business owners and supporters carried signs that said things such as: "Rotorua's darkest day in hospitality".
A number of people spoke about their frustration in trying to find both skilled and unskilled workers, including chefs, cleaners and front-of-house staff.
They claimed to have been telling the Government of the shortage for months but attempts to hire both locals and from overseas remained a challenge.
The Government last week announced it was opening up two more categories for migrants to become residents — the skilled migrant and the parents' visas.
Rotorua restaurateur Richard Sewell has been in the industry for almost four decades. Photo / Andrew Warner
Urbano Bistro owner Richard Sewell had been in the industry for 39 years and said the immigration process was "not working".
"We need to fast-track people into New Zealand. If we can't get them here for the start of summer there are going to be catastrophic consequences and businesses will close."
Indian Star owner Ray Singh believed the immigration process was too complicated, too expensive and too slow.
Hospitality New Zealand Bay of Plenty spokesman Reg Hennessy said there were too many people turning away business for lack of staff.
Hennessy said it was not just skilled workers, such as chefs, they needed, but all kinds of roles. He estimated about 1000 jobs were vacant in the city.
Deepak Kundal was seeking staff for all six of his Rotorua restaurants.
"Hardly any" local chefs or bartenders applied for jobs and most CVs came from overseas.
He said he was advertising the jobs every day but the interest he was getting was from people who were only able to do an hour here and there.
One of his bar staff positions was advertised in June, and he was still waiting for it to be filled.
He believed the immigration changes announced last week will help, but the process needed to be faster for it to help in time for summer.
National's Todd McClay said the Government was not listening or engaging, and the party's immigration spokeswoman Erica Stanford said hospitality was in crisis.
McClay said even if businesses put in applications tomorrow it would be months before they heard back.
Stanford said the Accredited Employer Work Visa was a "complete shambles" and the crisis was down to the Government spending months on immigration reset that did not go out to the public.
She said there were no international students and working holiday visa holders had "not turned up", because the government did not "aggressively" target them at the beginning of the year.
Immigration Minister Michael Wood last week said the skilled migrant visa category, paused during the height of Covid-19, would reopen along with the parents' category in mid-November.
Consultation would start on a new uncapped and "simplified" points system for migrants that fall outside existing programmes.
The announcement followed the Green List, which provided pathways to residency for the 85 most needed professions.
More than 12,000 international migrants had already applied by Friday for 511 different occupations across New Zealand since the Accredited Employer Work Visa opened.
Immigration Minister Michael Wood. Photo / Mark Mitchell
In a statement on Monday, Wood said labour shortages continued to be a persistent ongoing global symptom of the pandemic but the Government was listening to concerns.
He said the immigration rebalance was designed specifically to address the immediate skill shortages, simplifying the settings and streamlining application processes for businesses.
"Reopening our borders earlier would have significantly impacted our health system and the lives of Kiwis."
Wood said it was supporting the tourism and hospitality industry by providing median wage exemptions for specified tourism and hospitality roles through sector agreements, removing the qualification requirement for chefs, temporarily doubling numbers under the Working Holiday Scheme, and extending visas to retain labour already in the country.
More than 32,420 applications had been approved since March, with more than 11,100 working holiday visa holders arriving in New Zealand between May and October.
A key feature of the rebalance, Wood said, was a focus on building skills New Zealand needed. This was in contrast to the old system that focused on large volumes of low-wage labour in some sectors.
"This is a shift but it will be better for the New Zealand economy, and it will reduce the unacceptable levels of migrant exploitation that the old settings facilitated."
Immigration New Zealand had approved accredited employers to hire migrants for over 65,800 positions.
"Across the globe, we are seeing labour shortages, while the Opposition seems to think that they can just can magic up staff, we are working with industry on meaningful solutions that will help secure New Zealand's economic future."
