A winter with too many workers

There also wasn’t enough seasonal work for them, since workers for Recognised Seasonal Employers are only allowed to work for other RSE businesses and by winter the kiwifruit and apple season was over.

Between July and September fewer than 7000 seasonal workers were needed to prune kiwifruit and grapes. A discussion paper from Bedford and Rochelle Bailey, on managing RSE worker wellbeing during Covid-19, says this left a surplus of 3000 seasonal workers from July 2020 onwards.

The situation put pressure on RSE workers and employers because it created a set of circumstances vastly different to how the scheme is usually run.

Employers struggled to find work for their workers, so some had to support them with their