Migrants seen as crucial for dairying

A Mid Canterbury dairy farming leader says it would be frightening to think about where New Zealand's dairy industry would be today if it was not for a migrant workforce.

Former Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers dairy section chairman Dean McConnell said despite variations in the skills of immigrant dairy workers, New Zealand agriculture could not do without them.

He also said he had no direct evidence to support claims by some ethnic groups that migrant workers were being ill treated by farm owners and sharemilkers by being asked to work unreasonable hours and sometimes to leave properties.

Filipina Belinda Dewe, of Timaru, has formed a "shelter and cultural" group called the South Canterbury Filipino Association.

It links with a similar Mid Canterbury organisation to look after the interests of Filipino farm workers.

Mrs Dewe alleged some of the Filipino dairy workers in Mid Canterbury were being asked to work more than 12 hours a day.

"I find we are doing a lot of work with our members in Mid Canterbury.

"Working long hours is the biggest problem. Many Filipinos are being made to work too long. Some are working more than 12 hours a day," Mrs Dewe said.

"The Filipino farm workers who come here, they are willing to work and they expect to work hard. If you treat them really well they will work really hard.

"They want to be treated like everyone else."

Mr McConnell said the Filipino workforce was performing a vital role in the dairy industry.

He said migrant workers had filled a serious gap in staffing on dairy farms.

"If we didn't have them, we would have really struggled.

"In fact, it would be frightening to think of what would have happened if we didn't have the migrant workers irrespective of the standard of them."

He said any suggestion farmers were not allowing migrant staff to attend training sessions "certainly had not reached my ears".

Courier Country was told by an official of one South Canterbury-based ethnic organisation, who preferred to remain anonymous, that some farmers were allegedly reluctant to free staff for training and that migrant workers were allegedly being exploited.

"I find that claim strange. When you look at the advertisements placed by farmers looking for staff, people pride themselves as AgITO [agricultural industry training organisation] trainers," Mr McConnell said.

"There might be cases of farmers unable to provide paid time off for training and I think staff who consider themselves in need of training should consider that time spent training is time off and is not normally paid."

He said there would always be issues with staff. "Like any cross section of the community, you get good and bad workers," he said.

Of concern were the pay demands being placed on New Zealand farmers by the Department of Immigration for average or below-average migrant workers.

"The demands to meet New Zealand remuneration standards for a well-performed migrant are acceptable, but it's the old story - poor staff cost you a lot of money."

Mr McConnell also challenged reports of unequal pay rates between New Zealand and immigrant workers.

"I don't really know how that could happen because migrant workers' pay is applied through contracts and employment agreements arranged by recruitment agencies.

"And I can understand the Immigration Department trying to discourage pay disparity between New Zealand workers and migrant workers.

"Such discrimination could be used to the detriment of employing New Zealanders."

He said there were some clear differences between migrant and New Zealand workers.

"Some migrant workers turn up to work on a dairy farm totally unprepared for the task ahead.

"There have been cases of farmers having to furnish houses, and provide clothing, whereas the New Zealand worker usually turns up with all those issues sorted."