Solution to worker shortages creates problem for others

Our biggest exporter of apples needs 2,000 seasonal workers by November. Yesterday, the Sāmoan government announced that flights bringing RSE workers here will be restricted to one per month amid concerns about its own labour crisis, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in The Bulletin.

One flight per month for New Zealand and Australia

In an announcement yesterday, which included the news that all Covid restrictions for international travellers would be lifted, Sāmoa’s deputy prime minister Tuala Tevaga Ponifasio reiterated concerns about the RSE worker scheme. He noted the increasing number of companies wanting to hire seasonal workers from Sāmoa and then announced that only one intake of RSE workers will fly to New Zealand and one to Australia per month. Sāmoa halted sending more seasonal workers overseas in June. Within the “one flight” announcement from the Sāmoan government is an expression of concern about conditions for RSE workers overseas and worry about its domestic situation.

Labour shortages exist in Sāmoa too

The reason given by the government was to ensure that there was no drain of labour taken from Sāmoa, “of people who would take care of families and work the land”. This issue cuts across a few areas, both for Sāmoa and New Zealand. Yesterday, the Sāmoa Observer ran an editorial headlined “A slice of paradise? So why are our people leaving their paradise?” Its stance was labelled “between a rock and hard place”, acknowledging that prospects are better overseas but that the exodus of local workers is a serious concern for local employers. Comments on the Observer’s Facebook page weren’t very sympathetic towards the government.

Sāmoa has already lost 11,000 workers abroad to the seasonal worker scheme

Its government has flagged the potential of losing 2,500 more (paywalled) this week. The Observer reports that New Zealand’s biggest packer and exporter of apples, Mr Apples, has a delegation in the country looking to hire an additional 2,000 seasonal workers by November this year. Asparagus growers here are banking on RSE workers to get asparagus picked. New accommodation for RSE workers in Katikati is planned. RSE workers represent one of the solutions to our current labour labour crisis but at whose expense?

RSE workers here being exploited, bonded to unreasonable debt and living in poor conditions

New Zealand actually increased its quota of RSE workers in February to 16,000 and did so despite a review of the scheme not getting underway until early next year. Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner Karanina Sumeo said some RSE workers brought here from Pacific nations were being exploited, bonded to unreasonable debt and living in very poor conditions. Kirsty Johnston covered this in her piece this week on modern slavery. Pay might be better here. Pay sent home props up a chunk of the Sāmoan economy. But with exploitation concerns and the Sāmoan government worried about our labour crisis deepening its labour crisis, you have to wonder how long we can justify the darker side of our reliance on this source of labour. This “as told to Madeleine Chapman” from the wife of an RSE worker living here is worth your time.