Te Puke, 17 March 2020: Seeka Limited (NZX-SEK), a listed New Zealand produce handler has today announced a labour shortage of 300 positions for local people across their kiwifruit orchard and post-harvest operations in Bay of Plenty, Coromandel and Northland.
Seeka Chief Executive, Michael Franks said the usual flow of people to work for us in our eight facilities across the North Island has been impacted. The number of backpackers through our doors is low, and a significant portion of our experienced Recognised Seasonal Employee (RSE) scheme employees have been restricted from departing their country.
Franks outlined that 135 RSE workers scheduled from Malaysia had been restricted with their Government closing their borders for both inbound and outbound travellers. Sensibly the New Zealand Government had allowed those vacancies to be filled with workers from the Pacific Islands. Even with these workers, Seeka is 300 short and the labour shortage is acute.
Franks explains, "While we look to employ New Zealanders first and foremost, we also need to find other sources of workers such as backpackers and those from the RSE scheme as the harvesting and packing window of kiwifruit is relatively short. To date around 5% of crop Seeka handles has been processed, for the moment we have coped – however in about three weeks we will hit peak flow and need far more numbers of people."
“We're open to new solutions, and given there are local businesses affected by coronavirus in Tourism or Forestry who may be having difficulties keeping staff employed, working in the kiwifruit industry for a short term could be beneficial for everyone. We ask anyone looking for work to get in touch."
Working at Seeka during the kiwifruit season (March to June) - Key information
Contacts
Michael Franks
Chief Executive
+ 64 21 356 516
Kate Bryant
GM Corporate Services
+64 272781681
Seeka Key
Contacts