Food Industry Investment Vital for NZ

“Ensuring the success of the food sector is hugely important for all New Zealanders,” CTU secretary Carol Beaumont said today, welcoming an announcement from government of a significant new fund – NZ Fast Forward - to support innovation in the sector.

“The CTU supports initiatives which can increase value-added exports and lead to long term economic and environmental sustainability of the sector. A substantial funding boost for research and development in the sector will go a long way in helping this goal.”

The CTU is committed to industry processes to drive innovation and productivity to deliver a higher wage, higher skill, high value economy, Beaumont said.

“An integral part of this is workforce development and we have outlined our vision of the workplace of the future in Te Huarahi mo nga Kaimahi, published late last year.”

Carol Beaumont said it is important that such a significant Government investment in this sector does build high quality workplaces.

“An important goal of economic transformation in these industries, which employ 1 in 5 New Zealanders, is delivering us higher wages and a better standard of living, and the benefits of economic growth and higher productivity must be shared with workers.”

Today’s announcement builds on work from the Food and Beverage Taskforce, which completed its report to government in August 2006. The skills action plan in the Food and Beverage sector and the wider Skills Strategy supported by unions, business and Government are linked and critical parts of a sustainable future for the food sector, Carol Beaumont said.