New Zealand Apples and Pears warmly welcomes changes to RSE Scheme

New Zealand Apples and Pears (NZAPI) warmly welcomes critical and timely policy changes to the RSE Scheme ahead of the new season.

The raft of changes announced last night by Immigration Minister Erica Stanford will go a long way to easing pressures on apple and pear growers, says NZAPI Chief Executive Karen Morrish.

Policy changes to the RSE scheme include lifting the pause on accommodation cost increases and allowing a capped increase to be applied, allowing employers to average out RSE workers’ minimum 30 hours per week over four weeks and adjusting the application of the 10% above the minimum wage requirement.

“As Aotearoa’s largest employer of permanent and seasonal RSE workforce, we have deep roots in the scheme and are significantly invested in ensuring it works for us and our Pacific nations. 

“Our growers have faced incredible cost pressures in recent years and yesterday’s policy changes strike a balance that serves both our local industry and the Pacific communities we work with. It will have a considerable impact on the continued viability of the scheme.

“What’s more, they have come in time for new season harvest employment contracts, which will be a great relief to our growers across the country. We are incredibly grateful to our Government and Minister Stanford for listening to growers and making the changes needed in a timely manner.”

As an almost $1 billion industry, with an ambition of being a thriving $2 billion industry by 2035, the increase in RSE caps will also be welcomed by those organisations and orchardists in growth mode, says Morrish.

In 2022, 11,000 seasonal workers were employed at the peak of the apple and pear harvest in picking and packing roles, and their presence supported and sustained more than 3,600 permanent employees within the industry, she says.

“RSE workers send home more than NZ$116 million in earnings a year. This income has built homes, sent children to school, covered lifesaving medical treatments, enabled villages to access fresh water, and fed into local Pacific economies.

“The RSE scheme is hugely valuable to these Pacific families and communities as well, and we are really pleased to see increased flexibility for our RSE workers, who will now have the ability to go home for family emergencies and move across regions or employers if required.”