Kiwifruit picker reveals secret to earning $60 per hour

Wednesday, 6 April 2022

Is it really possible to earn $60 an hour picking fruit? “Absolutely,” says Maketū’s Trish Townsend, who has been a kiwifruit picker in the Bay of Plenty for four years.

“I did $60 per hour yesterday, and I am looking forward to $90 an hour at Easter when we’ll be on time-and-a-half. As long as the weather stays fine, I will be going hard.”

Last month Stuff revealed that high pay rates of up to $60 per hour, and incentives such as cash bonuses, prizes and free transport, accommodation and food, are being offered to lure pickers to the kiwifruit industry, which is experiencing its “toughest-ever season” due to the impact of Covid-19.

The industry usually requires 24,000 people to pick and pack over a typical harvest, but is drastically short this season due to a lack of international workers, such as backpackers or seasonal workers from overseas.

**READ MORE:

* $60 an hour to pick fruit: kiwifruit industry desperate for workers

* Kiwifruit workers now get more than $27 an hour: Survey

* Kiwifruit picking: 'Hot hard work that nobody wants to do'

**

There is currently a shortage of 6500 backpackers due to New Zealand’s border closures, plus a shortage of overseas and Kiwi workers due to the current wave of Omicron.

Pickers are traditionally paid a higher than post-harvest packhouse staff, where fruit is graded and packed. Pay across Bay of Plenty packhouses currently starts at $24 per hour.

Townsend said that as far as she knows, this year’s picking rates are the highest they’ve ever been.

“They need to attract good pickers to get the job done,” she said. “If you are in a good team you can make $60 an hour or more on a contract basis, as you get paid by the bin.”

Townsend says bin rates have increased since last year, but advises potential pickers to shop around, ask about terms, and join teams that have experienced pickers to learn from.

After starting in the industry at 18, Townsend worked grading fruit in packhouses until she was 30.

“The pay wasn’t much back then,” she said, “but we loved every Thursday lining up for our cash in a brown envelope.”

Now 52, the mother of six says she is one of the oldest pickers.

“But I am the best! I can go harder than a 20-year-old. The rest of my team call me ‘the machine’.

Townsend says she can fill a bin on her own in less than 20 minutes, and works eight hours a day, seven days a week unless it is raining. If the weather is patchy, she does a half-day but can still earn over $200.

“We tend to go hard when it’s only a few hours on a half-day,” she said. “After a full day I’m tired, but other days I could go until midnight - I get better as the day goes on.

“One time we worked 16 days straight, and we were happy when it rained. I never get sore, but I do rub cream into my wrists and I take Berroca and vitamins.”

Townsend said it can be hard for people to keep their pace up all day.

“After smoko it’s hard to get motivated again. The rows are long and orchards can be very hilly, but people encourage each other as no-one wants slow pickers in their team.”

Townsend works in orchards around Te Puke and says while newcomers start every week, some of them simply don’t work out.

“If you are new and haven’t picked before, you might go on an hourly rate from $24 to $26 while you learn the ropes,” said Townsend. “I always get pulled in to help train them because good picking is not about speed, it’s about technique.

“You have to put the bag tight and high on your body and hold your shoulders upright, so your arms are doing the work. I have done body building, so I know how to position my body. You do have to be fit, but it is learning a good technique that gets you the big money.”

The fruit needs to be picked and bagged correctly she said.

“There are teams that I don’t work with that make are even making $80 an hour, but at that rate I don’t think they are doing it properly. They will be dropping fruit, bruising it or not taking the stalks off.”

Good pickers develop a technique that enables them to pick quickly without damaging the fruit, she says.

“Some people pick it up faster than others. We have a girl in our team that’s 45 kg and she’s a great picker.

“You make friends - the team becomes like a family. We have a giggle, we chat, and when you are on family-owned orchards we have great smokos where the orchard owners provide pumpkin soups, sausage rolls and scones.”

Townsend has plenty of picking work lined up for the whole harvest, but says some packhouses are so short-staffed at the moment that some weeks they’ve picked more than the post-harvest teams can handle.

Packhouses have been further hit by the ongoing Covid crisis, meaning some days they can be down by hundreds of staff.

Last month post-harvest firm Trevelyn’s estimated that they were operating at 60 per cent, but were still getting the job done by moving shifts around and getting office workers and bosses to pitch in.

Packhouses such as Seeka, EastPack and Trevelyan’s are also competing for workers, and have upped their pay rates accordingly.

Wages start from $24 per hour plus holiday pay and incentives, which vary from each packhouse. They also include bonuses, free transport, spot prizes for fuel or food vouchers, subsidised food, and wellness programmes.

Anita Rosentreter, First Union strategic project coordinator, said the rate of $24 an hour is higher than previous years, when packhouses paid the minimum wage. But she fears the extra money will be shaved off when overseas workers return.

First Union, which represents the rights of all workers in sectors that have been traditionally non-union industries such as horticulture, is currently in collective bargaining with industry leader Seeka for workers in Northland.

There are currently no union agreements in place in the Bay of Plenty, with Rosentreter alleging that Seeka refuse to negotiate and that workers are “scared”.

Rosentreter has accused Bay of Plenty industry leaders of “playing fast and loose with the truth” regarding pay and exploiting their workers as “cheap” and “expendable” despite multi-million dollar profits and big payouts to bosses.

“The industry is playing fast and loose with the truth about pay rates and have only themselves to blame for a so-called labour shortage,” she said. “There’s a shortage of decent jobs in the industry, not a shortage of good workers.”

Despite Seeka currently advertising $24 per hour in Tauranga, Rosentreter said they had put $22.75 per hour on the table in its negotiations in Northland.

She claims when First Union representatives initially asked Seeka chief executive Michael Franks if the current rate of $24 an hour would be continued beyond the pandemic, he described it as an added incentive due to Covid.

“The company has admitted to us that $1.25 of that is a ‘seasonal allowance’ because of the border closure, and it'll be shaved off after this harvest,” said Rosentreter.

“Trimming workers’ pay from one year to the next while inflation surges is a big slap in the face.

“Despite the rosy picture and fanciful claims by horticulture employers, most workers have not even received a pay increase in line with inflation this year.”

Now First Union is putting pressure on Seeka to agree to a minimum of $24 an hour as a permanent starting wage for all workers, including those in the Bay of Plenty.

“Ideally we would like more,” said Rosentreter, “but remember, workers used to get minimum wage.

“The other issue is people who have worked in the industry for years not getting pay rises to reflect their experience and service. They can be getting paid the same as a school worker.”

Seeka operate packhouses across Aotearoa and are the largest kiwifruit producer in New Zealand and Australia. Last month they declared a $23.5 million net profit before tax for 2021.

Seeka’s net profits have increased 137 per cent in the last two years, says Rosentreter, who believes the workers who generated those returns are being denied their fair share.

“Horticulture employers are keeping local workers’ wages low by using relatively cheap seasonal labour, despite support from Government,” she says.

'We've been trying to bargain a national collective agreement for workers, so they have their own forum to resolve issues, but Seeka is refusing.

“These are essential workers in the food supply chain who are treated expendably. It's simply not on.”

Franks told Stuff that Seeka was only negotiating with First Union in Northland “for just 16 workers” and “no more of the approximately 3500 people we employ across New Zealand”.

“We are in a bargaining process with First Union over their 16 members in Northland and we do not want to breach good faith bargaining,” said Franks, “so any discussion around rates is inappropriate from us”.

Franks also said their 2021 pre-tax profit included a $7.6m legal settlement with the Crown, while the prior year was impacted by $10 million in Covid costs and drought.

“We have assets of $482 million,” he said. “You can draw your own conclusions on the operating profit level.”

EastPack chief executive Hamish Simson said he could not comment on pay rates or competitors.

In EastPack’s latest report and accounts, net profit in 2021 was $12.3m – down $0.6m from 2020, stating “profitability was impacted by higher costs in several areas”.

Simson said the cost of labour did not affect the company’s profits.

“Profit was not directly impacted by labour costs,” he said, “but Covid did have an impact in terms of labour availability.

“Fruit quality was challenging last year also, which added to costs of packing. 2020 was an outstanding year for fruit quality.”