People and Skills

Strategic Objective A competitive, skilled and productive workforce meeting industry's needs

This objective relates to initiatives undertaken in relation to people and skills, including:
-  Labout supply and productivity
-  Industry training
-  Health and Safety
-  Legal advice and information
-  Meat Industry Superannuation Scheme

Issues

At a general level, the period of extremely low unemployment New Zealand has enjoyed in recent years has placed pressure on industries to compete for the labour and skills they need to remain viable.  This pressure is felt acutely by the meat processing industry as the way in which the industry operates creates additional challenges in terms of attracting scarce labour resources into the industry.  These include:

• The seasonal nature of the industry, which acts as a disincentive to those seeking stability and continuity of income;
• The rural location of many plants, which heightens scarcity of labour as rural populations continue to decline;
• Under-appreciation of the modern nature of the industry and the employment and skill-development opportunities that exist within it;
• Cultural changes in New Zealand's workforce, including in relation to recreational drug use, and the work-life expectations of 'generations X and Y'; and
• A funding crisis faced by the New Zealand Industry Training Organisation (NZITO), which jeopardises the industry's ability to continue its phenomenal growth in trainees and provide staff with recognised skills to develop their careers and assist with retention of quality staff.
  

Continually improving the industry's health and safety record remains important as a means to attract and retain staff, ensure employee well-being, and reduce business costs (e.g., ACC levies).  Success in this regards requires effective targeting of resources to ensure that successful and cost-efficient health and safety initiatives are adopted as widely as possible, and that health and safety research focuses on the priorities that pose the biggest challenges for the industry. 

Key Priorities for 2007/08

Promoting the Meat Industry as a 'Career of Choice'

Securing adequate and equitable funding arrangements for NZITO that meet the increasing demand for industry training

Investigating cross industry demand for labour and skills to create seasonal work strategies ensuring meat industry employees can be sustainably employed on a fulltime basis

Securing Department of Labour agreement to immigration policies and strategies that assist the industry to meet genuine labour shortages

Developing generic and site-specific systems and agreeing protocols with the Ministry of Social Development for dealing with large scale lay-offs, whether seasonal or as a result of a biosecurity incursion or human disease pandemic.

Promoting the Meat Industry Health and Safety Forum and its priority areas for action