Jobs in silviculture and forestry are up for grabs as demand continues to outstrip supply across the sector. A timber mill boss in Te Puke who has about 180 employees desperately needs another 30 fulltime workers and is back on the tools in the meantime. On Friday the sawmill could not operate due to the dire shortage while productivity had nosedived by 25 per cent, a scenario that was affecting businesses throughout New Zealand. This was just one dilemma the forestry industry was facing amid a 'perfect storm' with slower log vessel loading times at the Port of Tauranga and concerns over the Covid lockdown policy in China - the sector's biggest export market.
Read the full story: forestry desperate for tree planters, timber mills need workers
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One element rarely mentioned is the stress this crisis places on managers and supervisors. These people get scant consideration from this government, but it is they who have to deal with the stress caused by not having enough workers to meet commitments. I can tell you the level of burnout is at an all-time high in NZ and with borders opening outward it is only going to get worse.
Todd M
The mill boss can't get 30 workers so we import 300 workers while in excess of 100,000 get paid to sit at home to do nothing. What happened to all the government-funded training schemes that were going to train workers for these jobs, so where are the workers and where has the money gone that was promised at the Red Stag mill in Rotorua 18 months ago?
David S