More Pacific worker exploitation to counter China in the Pacific?
Wait, WHAT?
Government allows a further 3000 seasonal workers to come to NZ
Immigration Minister Michael Wood has announced “the largest increase to the RSE Scheme in over a decade”.
The scheme, which brings seasonal workers to New Zealand from across the Pacific, will increase by 3000 places.
The announcement came as the RSE scheme faced scrutiny for leading to overcrowded and poor living conditions for some of the workers who have come to New Zealand.
The Labour Inspectorate has investigated at least 16 workplaces, responding to concerns about the treatment of workers.
More Pacific Island worker exploitation after all these harrowing investigations into the appalling conditions some of these workers are being held in?
Migrant workers housed at a school camp in Rotorua were forced to endure “unacceptable” living conditions, including sharing just two washing machines between more than 160 people, inspection reports reveal.
The Pacific Island horticulture workers, employed by fruit processing company Seeka, were crammed up to seven people to a room, in breach of immigration rules.
Men and women’s quarters were right next to each other despite complaints that female workers felt “unsafe”, and were too scared to go alone, outside, to the toilet blocks at night.
“I myself would not want to live in such conditions and can only imagine what our workers have to endure,” a Samoan liaison worker wrote in a complaint to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), according to documents released to Stuff under the Official Information Act.
…the naked truth is that Covid has decimated Pacific Island Tourism and they are desperate for jobs.
This desperation has extended into Pacific Island Worker exploitation and if NZ wishes to counter Chinese interests into the Pacific, it needs to broaden employment opportunities closer to home.
The problem is that we are still exploiting these people! I have no issue with extending Pacific Island Work programs, but why is it always for labour intensive work for our horticultural industry?
Why isn’t it for engineers, code writer, lawyers etc etc etc.
At the very least the Horticultural Industry must be forced to treat these workers with dignity and basic living conditions that are safe WHILE we do a hell of a lot more for the Pacific Islands beyond using them as exploitable workers.
Again.
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So LI have investigated 16 workplaces. It’s taken a bloody long time for them to get off their chuff and do a barely adequate job. (MBIE has never been able to walk and chew gum at the same time, which is why it should have been dismantled as one of the first things Labour had on their programme in 2017. However, all responsible Munsters seem happy with it – they’re good at Ministerial capture, and they need to be because everything they touch turns to shit!)
yep – no unions – the triumvirate of crown union and employer is missing.- employment contracts act needs tweaking ala 3 waters fashion. that’ll stir up the hoi polloi – maybe next term – lol
govt. trying to be worker and regulator on the left, employer and regulator on the right. How about the regulator stand to one side.
The restriction on foreign workers coming to NZ due to the pandemic, has done wonders for the NZ unemployment rate.
So much so, that such a restriction should become a regular thing, and importing cheap exploitable labour should not been seen as some kind of basic right, by business. A restriction could be organized every few years, or whenever the local unemployment rate starts to nudge 4.5% again.
This would enforce commonsense on the labour market, which once had commonsense before the industrial revolution, when virtually everyone in particular village would have been employed, because they had to be, so everyone could survive. But nowadays that commonsense through necessity has gone out the window, with workers now part of the throwaway society.
But workers who get thrown away don’t disappear, and once someone has been unemployed for a period they become entrenched, and the pandemic has revealed exactly the right tool to address this, so now there are no excuses. Any inconvenience to business could be seen as their social contract sacrifice for the greater good.
The horticulture sector which is the low greenhouse gas future part of the primary sector, need to turn their lights on upstairs, and organize a better deal for its temporary workers, similar to harvest trail in Australia.
Participating growers should grow crops that give sustained employment across the year. And registered temporary workers, need to be able to claim sick pay, ACC, and travel costs, etc, etc. Continuous work would also be more attractive to local workers, as well as retirees with their campervans or tiny houses. Something they could reliably do longer term.
Growers could set aside a parking area with power and water and laundry, for people to stay. And those who employ RSE workers would need to demonstrate to MBIE beforehand, that they can provide sufficient accommodation, gear, and tools for each worker required. MBIE needs more pacific island staff, to act as undercover bosses, and do seasonal horticulture work on these farms, and make sure conditions are up to scratch, and pay is sufficient.