| 57 FICA - Forest Industry Contractors Association FORESTRY FICA to the fore at a critical time With critical issues looming for forestry, FICA CEO Prue Younger says it’s important to have an organisation that can strongly lobby for its members. Prue Younger is CEO of the Forest Industry Contractors Assn (FICA) and has been in the role four years, though her involvement in the sector tracks back a further eight years working with one of the eight regional wood councils. In her role, Prue is responsible for supporting the strategic aims of the organisation, communicating with members on current information of importance, engaging with stakeholders, updating on regulatory changes impacting the industry and encouraging new members to join. It’s a busy job where no two days are the same, and the past two years in particular have brought unique challenges to the fore. Initiatives from MSD to attract Kiwi’s into the sector, at a time when the borders were closing for the usual influx of migrant workers, proved to be less than productive. “They (MSD) were keen for us to take on locals, and spent a significant amount of money on the programme. It was called the ‘$10,000 challenge over 12 weeks’ and aimed to attract available local people into the silvicultural sector, planting and harvesting trees.” In 2020 the sector also received a subsidy provided by MSD and the sector took on 250 people under that scheme and a year later that number had dwindled to 122. T T Sue Russell Those employed in silviculture have to be drug free and the work would extend a full week Monday to Friday and sometimes Saturday. History proved that there was little interest in doing the hard ‘graft’ that forestry work is. As a result, there’s a backlog of trees for planting especially now facing the sector and impacting on contractors’ abilities to meet targets. FICA was established in 2012 and when Prue came into the role, one of her key tasks was to raise the visibility of the organisation for those working in forestry and increase member numbers by presenting the myriad of benefits that came from joining. “We are a strong lobby organisation. We’re there to sit around the table with Government agencies and those in charge of regulation, to put the case forward for our members.” A Code of Ethics was established for the organisation and Prue trebled the budget spent on travel so she could get around all forestry production areas and talk the talk with those members and non-members on the ground. “We held workshops all around the country to get a fix on their situation and the issues most pressing on the industry. This helped inform our strategic direction.” An important challenge Prue and the team at FICA are about to engage in is critical, she says, to the future health of the whole sector. The actual number of contractors working in forestry isn’t known. The plan is to make contact with everyone working in forestry to ascertain just how many contractors there are and to work towards engaging them all within the organisation. “We’re about to engage a PR company to register all the companies they can possibly find. One of the reasons I believe we hadn’t grown is we don’t know who they are or their circumstances.” Prue says now, more than at any other time, with critical issues bearing down on forestry, it’s important to have an organisation that can strongly lobby for its members. “With COVID still around and probably with us for some time, a key issue to address with MPI is the need to create a way for contractors to abide by the health & safety regulations and still be able to access critical staff.” The idea of the ‘Bubble of One’, Prue says, is just the vehicle to achieve this. “A group of key forestry stakeholders went to MPI and put up the proposal that we can organise for workers to be in a ‘bubble of one’ while on the job. By nature the work is like that and this includes other primary industries as well, so we really hope to see the ability to employ migrant workers improve soon.” Prue says forestry has always been seen as a life-long career but what has changed, driven by advancing technology and health and safety is the nature of how the work is done, demanding different skill-sets than just a fit hard-working person. “We think the sector has entered an exciting era and with forestry management degrees and other training pathways opening up, it is our hope that a wider group of individuals will be attracted to work in the sector.” Engaging with schools, at grass-roots level is also something Prue says needs to be given more attention. “This is where the message can be given that working in forestry is a really worthwhile, engaging job that provides for you to grow your career and develop through from frontline to management.”
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