![\"NZKGI](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/149022_2_1214495_crop.jpg\")
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New Zealand marketer Zespri has underlined its commitment to worker welfare and the maintenance of high labour standards in its supply chain, after coalition government minister Shane Jones spoke of \u201cmedieval slave practices\u201d in the country\u2019s kiwifruit industry.<\/p>\n
Jones, an outspoken economic nationalist, made the comments about working conditions in the Bay of Plenty \u2013 New Zealand\u2019s largest kiwifruit-producing region \u2013 at a public meeting on Sunday, where he also called for a review of laws that govern Zespri\u2019s single-desk status.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know about you, but I\u2019m sick to death of what I\u2019ve seen up in the kiwifruit industry: medieval slave practices,\u201d he was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Herald.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the United States is calling out New Zealand as being responsible for the provision of goods and services that are associated with slave labour, look no further than the egregious cases of what we\u2019re seeing in the Bay of Plenty and the migrant groups that are being exploited there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, NZ Trade Minister Todd McClay dismissed claims made by the US Administration that \u201cforced labour\u201d in New Zealand justified a newly imposed 12.5 per cent import tariff.<\/p>\n
But in his comments at the weekend, Jones maintained the accusation and argued it undermined the marketer\u2019s position \u2013 something his party New Zealand First would apparently look to review, given the chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time for a review of the Zespri legislation,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause I fear that they have trivialised their social licence, and we mean to do something about it if we come back into power.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, Zespri told the newspaper: \u201cAny allegations of poor working conditions are taken seriously and investigated, with action taken wherever possible, including proactive on reporting to government agencies to consider further enforcement action.<\/p>\n
It added: \u201cWe have extensive systems in place to both keep the wrong people out of the industry and then to remove them when they are found.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the first time Jones has singled out Zespri for criticism. In June, he accused the company of failing to allow M\u0101ori landowners to enter the country\u2019s kiwifruit industry \u2013 a claim it rejected outright, pointing out that M\u0101ori growers have a \u201csignificant presence\u201d in the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand marketer Zespri has underlined its commitment to worker welfare and the maintenance of high labour standards…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-586933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}