The obscene exploitation of migrant workers in NZ demands Universal Unionism
There are many benefits to keeping the border closed.
It saves us from Covid infection.
It stops the hyper tourism that gridlocks our infrastructure.
It stops the exploitation of international students AND it stops the exploitation of migrant workers.
Well, the migrant workers who already aren’t here being exploited…
Bottle store migrant exploitation: Inquiry calls grow louder
An urgent government inquiry is being demanded by alcohol activists alarmed by the tide of migrant exploitation cases in the liquor store sector.
…the exploitation of workers conned into coming to NZ on bullshit education pretences and allowed set hours to work are being horrifically exploited in the liquor store sector.
The exploited gain a job, are forced to lie about the hours they work, are forced to pay the bottle store owner to keep their jobs and when they complain to the underfunded Labour Inspectors, they are seen as the problem and face deportation.
The entire sector is corrupt to the core.
To date, immigration to NZ has been exploitative and speculative. The Key Government opened the floodgates to immigration to prop up the speculative housing bubble and with massive downgrades in labour officers to police bad bosses, exploitation of migrant workers in NZ is a pandemic in of itself.
This exploitation pushes down wages for domestic workers while also forcing those domestic workers to compete for low cost housing with new migrant workers.
In 2018 we had 129 000 migrants for a population of almost 5 million.
Australia with 24 and a half million, allows in 190 000.
You can see the immediate difference when comparing NZ with Australia.
On top of that we have over 300 000 international students and workers with temporary work visas who have been obscenely exploited by a de-unionised job market and additional to that, we had almost 4 million tourists visiting us each year.
Meanwhile more of our assets and land are being owned by overseas interests.
It is no wonder that our social and physical infrastructure is groaning under unsustainable gridlock while creating political friction.
We must look at a Migrant Worker Amnesty and Universal Union Membership to stop this exploitation.
Migrant Worker Amnesty:
We can’t entice migrant workers here, have them exploited by unscrupulous bosses and then tell them to piss off back home. That is cruel and nasty. We should offer an immediate amnesty to all migrant workers in NZ to become permanent residents BUT right after that amnesty, we must close all immigration until a vaccine is widely available. Employers will need to use the existing work force here if they want to expand, this would end the bullshit games of companies claiming no NZer wants to be a burger king manager or booze seller so we need to import those workers. You either pay proper wages to attract someone to your job or you don’t get an employee. Those migrant workers who left NZ as the borders closed however are not due any special protection or aid, they are simply the unlucky and a Government isn’t responsible for unlucky foreign workers.
Universal Union Membership for all migrant workers:
The ease with which exploitation of migrant workers is so rampant throughout NZ demands a response that is serious and only compulsory Union membership of all migrant workers will force the exploitation to end.
There are enormous structural changes coming our way in a post pandemic world and we need to see ourselves as one of the life boats on a climate crisis planet. Immigration is an area we need to urgently reform so that when external shocks occur, we are flexible enough to sustain them.
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Repeatedly those doing the exploitation are migrates themselves . Even if they have gained citizenship surely that should be subject to them abiding by the laws of NZ and being a good citizen and if they break the law they should be sent packing.
Bottle store owners seem to be bad employers the checks should start with them and they should be made examples of how tough we can be.
Absolutely. Cancel their visas and residency and send them packing – along with whoever elae they have brought into our country under false pretences.
Where there’s money to be made – even on the back of exploited workers, people will take it, AND have done so regardless of their origin.
Depends on the sector too, the degree to which various groups are involved. Some Kiwifruit orchard owners know damn well they effectively have slave labour – they’ve simply outsourced “the problem” and respectably distanced themselves through the use of contractors and ticket clippers who need to make an earn. Very ‘efficient and effective’.
None of it absolves the government of the problem. A Labour Inspectorate that couldn’t have given a stuff until it started to become embarrassingly obvious and gradually had to concede they were “under-resourced” – despite advocates and advocacy groups harping on about it all for years. The previous gummint chose to industrialise it all. Then the inability/unwillingness to investigate it all, and unofficial policy of shuffling the exploited out of the country before people could be properly compensated and exploiters made an example of.
But you are correct in as much as that where people are prepared to amass obscene wealth by severely exploiting their labour force, then they are not of good character – whether that’s the orchard owner, the liquor shop owner, the cafe owner AND incidentally all the people that facilitate it all (very often born and bred Kiwis and/or imports from one of the Empires).
Unfortunately, I don’t see the BAU Labour Party doing much about it which is one of the big reasons I’ll be Party Voting Green after a lifetime of Labour support. There was a clue given in I L-G’s valedictory speech who seemed to be enchanted with the performance of his officials – the nod nod nod rhubarb rhubarb rhubarbs from those surrounding him didn’t go unnoticed either.
I wouldn’t mind so much if there wasn’t the bloody pretense that (lil ‘ole NuZull that punches above its weight) is somehow better than what’s been going on elsewhere in the world. We’re not. We had an emerging situation a decade ago, and chose to make it worse with the creation of a Ministry for Everything that made it all seamless – until now when its blowing up in their faces.
Time to stop migrant workers. It really is the only way to stop the exploitation that has become endemic in our system.
Of course, the only reason why the government doesn’t do anything about it is because the businesses want to continue the exploitation. We are becoming serfs because that’s what business wants.
I was involved in hospitality when I worked and it needs migrates as does many other industries. Tey just need to be treated fairly
. In Melbourne the restaurant Chain owed by a master chef judge was boycotted when it was discovered he had cheaten staff . The chain is now gone bankrupt. This is what NZ people need to do to those businesses cheating staff but unfortunately it seems to be excepted the owners pay a fine and life goes on.