skills acTion Plan for The food and Beverage secTor - Department of ...

Sector section of this report, where an example of
sector learnings has been outlined in relation to the
Horticulture and Viticulture Seasonal Labour Strategy.
• Skill Needs and Worker Voice in High Performance
Workplaces – this will look at the skills needed in New
Zealand’s high-tech dairy manufacturing industry;
identify skills dairy manufacturing workers need, and
what determines whether they learn those skills or
not. Fonterra, the New Zealand Dairy Workers Union,
and the New Zealand Industry Training Organisation
(which covers the dairy industry), will participate in
this study.
• Specific ITO related initiatives such as Farmsafe
(ie. training and extension services to farmers),
where the Agriculture Industry Training Organisation
(AGITO) works collaboratively with Agriculture New
Zealand and Telford Rural Polytechnic to develop an
effective programme to change behaviour on the
farm regarding workplace safety.
• Competitive Manufacturing (CMI) – a consortia of
organisations are supporting the development of
changes in the workplace to increase productivity.
It includes a NQF qualification already available at
level 2-4 and the development of a Diploma for 2007.
• Dairy InSight’s campaign to attract new entrants to
the dairy industry.
• The Department of Labour’s Foundation Skills in
Seasonal Workplaces – this includes a foundation
skills and task needs analysis (in the horticulture
and viticulture seasonal industries), with a view to
understanding foundation skills needs, the type
of foundation learning programmes that could be
potentially implemented, and the perceived benefits
and opportunities that these programmes offer for
improving workforce productivity.
Other Work Underway
Skills, training and labour market work already underway
(or completed) and relevant to food and beverage
businesses, includes:
• Tertiary reforms.
• Upskilling the Workforce – there may be flow-on
effects of foundation skills initiatives for food and
beverage employees that need foundation skills .
• Adult Literacy and Life Skill Survey – an OECD survey
that New Zealand is participating in that will measure
numeracy and problem solving skills 1 .
• Workplace Productivity Agenda – involving
implementation across the areas of: awareness
raising; development of diagnostic tools;
implementation and research; and evaluation. In
addition the Department of Labour, Ministry of
Economic Development and Ministry of Research
Science and Technology are leading work around
each of the seven drivers of workplace productivity,
as defined in the Workplace Productivity Agenda,
to improve productivity of small to medium sized
enterprises, including those in the food and beverage
sector.
• Helping Advance Nga Mahi in Growth and Innovation
(H.A.N.G.I Project). The New Zealand Council of
Trade Unions in conjunction with Hui Taumata has
established the project to focus on workplace
productivity education and training for Maori workers.
The vision is to increase the number of Ngä Kaimahi
Maori who engage in workplace learning with the
support of the unions, enterprises, industry and iwi.
• New Zealand Council of Trade Unions initiatives in
learning, productivity, improving wages and conditions
and Maori economic development.
1. Foundation skills are defined as including reading, writing, numeracy,
Information Communication Technology, problem solving, oral communications
and interpersonal skills.
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