Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Saunoamaali’i Karanina Sumeo released a review into the RSE scheme last week. Photo / NZME
Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Saunoamaali’i Karanina Sumeo released a review into the RSE scheme last week. Photo / NZME
The “vast majority” of Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) workers have a good experience in Aotearoa, says Business New Zealand.
Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Saunoamaali’i Karanina Sumeo’s review found some working conditions were “absolutely distressing” and likened some cases to modern-day slavery.
RSE worker advocate Leina Isno said although “only a few pockets” of employers were creating substandard working conditions, many workers were discouraged from expressing any concerns.
The business communities of New Zealand “should be outraged” that workers are being paid at a minimum wage given the profits being made,” she added.
“We raise our issues, and we do that freely. Why can’t our workers?”
Isno represents workers from Vanuatu. Immigration NZ statistics from 2021 to 2022 showed 4983 RSE workers migrated from Vanuatu out of a total of 9432.
Isno said six to 10 workers were often allocated to a place of accommodation, paying between $110 to $150 each every week.
“By the end of their season, they’re struggling to even get money home.”
Isno claimed living conditions were “substandard”, especially for workers migrating to the South Island from Pacific Island nations.
“We only have one heater. It can be minus 5C in the South Island. We cannot cope.”
She said worker health and wellbeing should be paramount to New Zealand business.
“You’ve got a social and a health element that needs to be addressed because it is really, really unfair.”
Research showed the value of New Zealand’s apple, kiwifruit and wine exports was up by almost $1 billion after the RSE scheme started in 2007.
One of Sumeo’s recommendations included ratifying some International Labour Organisation (ILO) legal requirements for workers.
In response to the review of the scheme, Business NZ spokeswoman Rachel Simpson said her organisation rejected claims that systemic exploitation and abuse typified the RSE system.
Simpson said Business NZ would support discussing whether the Government should ratify ILO conventions.
She said employers had gone above and beyond to try and make sure people felt supported.
“One of the things that we can agree with the Human Rights Commissioner about is ensuring that the labour inspector is suitably resourced to be able to investigate complaints.”
He said e-modules were already required for accredited employers and the accommodation cost freeze will be implemented soon.
First Union strategic co-ordinator Anita Rosentreter. Photo / Supplied
First Union’s Anita Rosentreter said an RSE review should be brought forward and there had to be an extensive overhaul.
“There’s widespread exploitation of Pacific workers through this scheme in New Zealand.”
Rosentreter said some employers still charged workers for migration costs, and sometimes workers received less than half their agreed wages in their first few fortnightly pay cycles due to deductions.
“I’ve also seen examples where the worker has received absolutely no pay whatsoever for a number of weeks because the employer is deducting at such a high rate in those early weeks,” she added.
“There’s a real issue with the employment essentially being bonded,” Rosentreter said, as RSE workers are generally tied to a single employer while in Aotearoa.
“So if there’s an issue in their employment and they are let go for some reason, then they risk being sent back home.”
Rosentreter said workers faced conditions that would not be tolerated for Kiwi workers, including deducting work-related costs directly from pay.
Some workers’ income went towards safety boots and other equipment, Rosentreter said.
“I’ve seen a worker’s pay slip where the safety boots were $200.”
Rosentreter said food and transport was also out of pocket for the workers, and they were expected to abide by curfews and other rules.
“You can’t drink alcohol, men and women can’t socialise - things that are not acceptable for us to impose on Kiwi workers ... It’s not just about breaches of employment law, which definitely exist, but things that are unacceptable.”
Rosentreter added: “The workers will be sleeping in a dorm-style room shared with many other people, totally overcrowded and still paying $150 to $200 a week in rent.”
Rosentreter said the Government was not making urgent changes.
“They just need to get the review underway as soon as possible, and ensure that the process is quick enough … At the moment, there’s all these discussions involving the ministries, employers and unions but they’ve all got completely different views.”
‘Small tweaks’ not enough
Green Party Immigration spokesman Ricardo Menéndez March said exploitation of RSE workers highlighted an urgent need to make systemic changes.
March said the Immigration Minister should take a comprehensive approach to reviewing the RSE scheme.
“Look at completely overhauling it. Small tweaks just simply won’t cut it.”
March said allowing workers more freedom of choice across employers is essential, but also to offer pathways to residency.
“I’m urging the minister to take heed from the call that we know are substantiated from workers themselves who have spoken of exploitation,” March said.
Business NZ: Good employers overlooked
“There is already an active work programme around trying to improve the RSE scheme and unfortunately the human rights report omits some of the good stuff that has been happening in the scheme and improvements that have been steadily made to it,” Simpson said.
She said RSE workers had a higher minimum wage overall, guaranteed minimum income, and extended sick leave provisions.
“Obviously nobody wants to see things like substandard accommodation ... but if you dig deeper into what is the situation around that you find that some regions, for example, the requirement is you can’t use other forms of local accommodation.”
Simpson said an ILO review in 2021 showed workers were treated well, and any issues were “actually quite human ones around missing families”.
The 2021 ILO report reviewed the scheme across Aotearoa and Australia and found it needed intervention as recruitment fees and related costs borne by workers were considerable.
Meanwhile, Wood said the Government’s review “will consider feedback from a range of stakeholders, including workers and employers, and apply a human rights lens, focusing on improving the long-term sustainability of the scheme.
“In the meantime, work continues on improving the scheme.”
