Restaurateurs fear the Government's immigration reset is bleeding them dry of talent as experienced migrant chefs and trained wait staff leave for Australia, Canada and other countries.
The government has decided to extend the visas of 10,000 workers on working holiday and seasonal visas, but the hospitality sector is worried this extension doesn't go far enough.
On Thursday, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi announced working holiday visas and supplementary seasonal employment visas due to expire between June 21 and December 31 this year will be extended for another six months to manage ongoing labour shortages.
Faafoi says the move aims to bring employers greater certainty while border restrictions remain in place.
However, the government has decided it will not be extending the essential skills work visa again, despite increasing the duration of visas for jobs from six months to 12 months, taking them back to pre-Covid settings.
This news has disappointed the hospitality sector, as many of its workers are on essential skills visas.
Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois says about 15 percent of the workforce were on essential skills work visas.
"We still need further engagement from Government on this issue,” Bidois says.
As essential skills visa extensions expire in coming months and the government tightens the tap on migration, hospitality businesses' worst fears are being realised.
Hospitality has been heavily burdened by the growing labour shortage caused by Covid border closures and Auckland restaurateur Krishna Botica says the government’s broader plans to reset its immigration policy, which aims to attract high skilled workers and reduce some industries' reliance on migrant workers will only exacerbate this.
Botica, who owns five popular restaurants in Auckland, says with migrant workers leaving the country, many on valid visas stuck offshore and local hospitality workers moving on to other sectors for work, operators in the sector are being stretched thin.
“The staff shortages are very real. There is not one restaurateur I've spoken to in the last six weeks that isn't tearing their hair out,” Botica says.
“Many friends have extended mortgages on their houses to keep the business going and are now facing incursions. This time not created by a pandemic, but by their own government.”
The pain is being felt by everyone in the industry.
Restaurateur Chand Sahrawat, who runs some of the country's best restaurants Sidart, Cassia and Sid at The French Café, with her husband and celebrated chef Sid Sahrawat, has also been trying to cope with a stream of highly experienced migrant workers leaving the business.
She says workers' essential skills visa extensions expiring and two-year long delays for residency applications had forced chefs from France, Italy and Spain either back to their home countries or to Australia and Canada for better chances of getting visas.
Sahrawat says the government has also been unclear about its reset or qualifications for a high skilled worker.
"I think an experienced chef earning about $85,000 is worth keeping here."
Bidois says the sector also hoped the government would pause the increase in the hourly wage threshold to $27 from next month.
The government says this pay rate was set following public consultation and determines whether jobs are treated as higher or lower paid.
Employers paying under the median wage can still access migrant workers but will need to check with the Ministry of Social Development to see whether a registered job seeker is available.
Bidois says under normal circumstances approximately 30 per cent of the industry is made up of workers on temporary visas and in some cases that figure is closer to 60 per cent.
“The dialogue around that workforce’s future in Aotearoa is nowhere to be seen. We stand to lose 15 percent of our total workforce with no viable replacement.”
On Wednesday Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi reiterated the Government’s plans to use Covid border closures as an opportunity to allow fewer low skilled migrants in low wage roles to high skilled migrants earning more to work and live in New Zealand long term.
He told the Education and Workforce Select Committee this reset aims to improve conditions for everyone and the immigration department should be “commended” for bringing 17,000 critical workers to New Zealand despite borders being closed.
Bidois is calling on the government to include hospitality workers as critical workers in its border exceptions.
Faafoi also said there would be reforms of the temporary migrant visa category in the coming year, because some industries have relied too heavily on migrant labour.
"We stand to lose 15 per cent of our total workforce with no viable replacement." – Marisa Bidois, Restaurant Association
But Botica rejects that hospitality has been more reliant on migrants than other industries or other countries in the world. "Every country in the world has migrants in its hospitality industry," she says.
“We've been employing Kiwis wherever we can and now we've just hit the bottom of the barrel and the unemployment is so low, our worst fears have been realised.”
Botica says it is "unrealistic" for the government to expect locals to replace migrants in hospitality.
A driving factor is because locals just don't want to do those jobs.
A Wellington hospitality worker, who wanted to be known only by her first name Ella, says she took up a second job with the local DHB to give her more financial stability.
The 22-year-old, who has worked in hospitality for seven years, says the poor reputation of the industry among locals is justified.
It’s not an industry she hopes to stay in long-term herself.
"It's a convenient, flexible job. But it's not sustainable – for health reasons, social reasons, financial reasons."
Ella says traditionally the hospitality industry has not invested in its staff.
“They can find people from overseas who have been trained and then not pay them.
"Small business owners don't want to spend money on staff even though workers are their biggest asset."
Ella says about 60 percent of her colleagues were migrants before Covid-19 but this had halved.
“Working while being short-staffed is b....y stressful,” she says.
"The work was hard before the pandemic, and it's become harder now, but we still get paid the same, and have to open for the same hours."
"Without workers established restaurants will have to close, that leads to more unemployment and fewer opportunities to train under chefs like Sid." – Chand Sahrawat
Even Botica, who employs about 100 workers across her five Asian restaurants says it is "impossible" to think locals will replace migrant workers, particularly in ethnic restaurants.
"There is a bit of repulsion to our industry when they can see we've been stressed and under duress for 16 months.”
She has decided to shut one of her restaurants, Saan, from operating on Mondays so its staff can work at her other restaurants.
Sahrawat says the government's immigration plans have come as a second blow to the industry already hit by Covid.
Worried about their mental health, the Sahrawat's made the difficult decision of selling their popular restaurant Sidart to the head chef of the French Cafe.
She says the sale also represented the career progression in hospitality.
"We want to support more locals working in hospitality, but it's not something that can be done overnight. There needs to be some transition plan," Sahrawat says.
"Without workers established restaurants will have to close, that leads to more unemployment and fewer opportunities to train under chefs like Sid."
Sahrawat says the government could look to incentivise working in hospitality by paying for tools, or funding training programmes that enabled businesses to hire those workers after training them.
"There is no hospitality industry without migrants, it is far less rich in culture, educated in palate, knowledgeable in trends and far less people-oriented." – Krishna Botica, restaurateur
Botica says without skilled migrants in hospitality, the public risks losing the diverse dining options.
"There is no hospitality industry without migrants, it is far less rich in culture, educated in palate, knowledgeable in trends and far less people-oriented.
"The public needs to know the availability of products and services they're used to having will no longer be available because we'll have to start shutting down."
Bidois says without migrants more restaurants will also look to automation and increased counter service to reduce the number of servers required.
But she fears this reset to hospitality may take away the true meaning of the word from the industry.
