Hospitality venues around the country are gearing up for what's expected to be a busy summer amid a "critical" lack of staff.
Recently released figures from hospitality job platform Barcats shows the industry in Aotearoa New Zealand is currently short by 30,000 workers.
Statistics from employment marketplace Seek NZ also paint a picture of the desperate need for staff, with 3000 hospitality and tourism vacancies currently on the site.
Barcats said the lack of staff may lead to "venues closing their doors for up to three days a week, and offering limited menus to diners, who may have to wait up to 25% longer for their meals".
But those in the sector say the wages on offer don't reflect the nationwide need for staff.
Chloe Ann-King, the founder of hospitality union Raise the Bar, said it doesn't make sense for employers to complain about understaffing but refuse to lift wages at the same time.
She said the solution to chronic understaffing is simple.
"The one thing that hospo employers can do to attract new talent and also bring back some of those veteran hospo workers that have left the industry on the back of exploitation and low wages, is to put wages up."
Ann-King urged employers to reflect on their current practices.
"If you want to find workers that fill those gaps, you need to pay them sustainable incomes."
She said that despite the high demand for the roles, hospitality workers continue to be "some of the lowest paid workers in New Zealand".
"I think it's pretty reflective of where we're at in this industry if you're working full time and still needing help from WINZ."
What's driving this?
Senior lecturer at AUT's School of Hospitality and Tourism David Williamson said the low wages in the sector have been "decades in the making" but it hasn't always been this way.
He said the Employment Contracts Act "devastated" strong labour unions and collective bargaining that saw hospitality workers receiving good wages.
Now, wages remain stubbornly low, and New Zealand businesses have seen workers heading over the ditch to find jobs in Australia's hospitality sector.
"The wages and conditions are better in Australia…they actually still have relatively strong unions, relatively strong collective agreements and a different employment legislation framework.
"Wages are a really important baseline thing for attracting and keeping employees."
Williamson said there's also a tendency to see hospitality jobs in New Zealand as a "second-rate sort of option" and "low status".
"The problem is that we've developed a culture that devalues hospitality and service in work in general.
"It kind of becomes this repeating downward cycle, where they say the wages are bad, the conditions are bad, the hours are long, and nobody really values that because the industry has got itself in the position it has."
What are the workers saying?
One of this summer's expected "party hotspots" named by Barcats is Auckland’s Viaduct, with rooftop and outdoor venues expected to get an influx of punters.
But staff employed at venues in the Viaduct told 1News the low pay, consistent lack of staff, and long working hours aren't helping to attract the tens of thousands of workers needed to fill the current gap.
One waitress who wanted to remain anonymous said she was being paid the minimum wage despite being required to train new hires and take charge on shifts.
She said it was "ridiculous" that wages haven't gone up to match the rapidly increasing cost of living.
A barista who wanted to remain anonymous told a similar story, saying he's picked up managerial responsibilities at his job but hasn't seen his wages go up even with the extra duties.
Workers who spoke with 1News said wages tend to increase just before the minimum wage is due to go up, so employers are still effectively only paying the lowest wages legally required.
They also say the unsociable hours, with shifts often ending in the early hours of the morning, mean they are forced to spend more money on transportation and food on top of already low pay.
Businesses respond to calls for higher wages
Despite the need for staff, business associations say lifting wages is not the answer.
The Government's proposed Fair Pay Agreements Bill has so far faced staunch opposition from businesses.
The bill would "provide a framework for collective bargaining for fair pay agreements across entire industries or occupations, rather than just between unions and particular employers," according to Parliament's website.
A BusinessNZ survey of 102 businesses in September found one of the top five concerns of respondents was the "introduction of fair pay agreements".
Nearly 70% of businesses surveyed in October by the Auckland Business Chamber said they disagreed or strongly disagreed with the proposed bill.
Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges said the survey sent a "crystal clear" message to the Government to "back off".
Hospitality NZ's chief executive Julie White said lifting wages is "not a silver bullet" for businesses struggling to attract staff to the industry.
"There's a global shortage of staff, it's not just New Zealand."
She says it's a complicated issue, with a lack of workers from overseas and net migration also dropping.
White said that after Covid-19, "putting additional costs into businesses is a big stretch, especially when they’re not operating at full capacity".
But Williamson said he "completely rejects" the idea that increasing wages is an "unfair burden" on employers.
"If you can't afford to pay the decent wage, you shouldn't be in business.
"The market is saying to you, if you can't compete with other industries and you can't compete with other countries with your wage levels, the young people today just aren't having anything to do with you."
Williamson acknowledged that allowing the "right number" of migrant workers in can help add significant value to the economy.
However, simply importing thousands of migrants in to fill the gaps is "a backwards step" and not the answer to the staff shortage, he said.
Williamson said employers have the mindset that because these workers are temporary, they don't have to invest in training or actively improve working conditions to attract new hires.
"As long as you can keep hiring people in, it doesn't matter how we treat people.
"We've got to break that cycle. You've got to treat your staff like gold, hang on to them and pay them and treat them well, otherwise they'll just go somewhere else."
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