Labour mobility: The push for more help for RSE workers

When Pacific governments send workers to New Zealand under the Recognized Seasonal Employer (RSE) program, they are required to appoint a spiritual or community leader as part of the sending work team.

Patrick Rounds, a Bay of Plenty church minister and Fijian community leader, told New Zealand’s Pacific Radio that ensuring workers integrate smoothly into the local environment and setting is vital.

The RSE scheme has been hailed as “vital” to New Zealand’s horticultural industry.

New Zealand The government has promised Supporting economic and social resilience in the Pacific through labour mobility programs.

But some stakeholders say the island nation still needs to do more to ensure workers are settled and able to reach their full potential.

Rev. Lowndes has seen the program grow over the past decade or so and believes it’s important to have someone who can provide on-the-ground advice.

“I think it’s really important that when our people leave their homes, they live in a structured environment with a social structure,” he told the RSE Workers Sports Festival in Mount Maunganui last Thursday.

“When they come here, I think it is our responsibility as a government to make sure that we replicate that structure as much as possible. You know, to have someone appointed for them as a spiritual mentor or spiritual pastor.

“It’s really, really important to do that.”

He said RSE workers were the backbone of the horticulture industry and they impacted local communities not only financially.

“They are a very important part of our community. Without them, our industry cannot survive,” he said.

“They really do contribute positively to our community, not only economically but culturally and spiritually.”

These workers brought their faith with them when they arrived in New Zealand, bringing new life to the small churches in these places.

For the past decade, Lowndes has been working with local companies and workers to help him and the local Fijian community wherever he can.

This support includes translating contracts so that workers can understand them and mediating between workers and employers.

“The challenges we face are varied,” he said.

“One challenge is communication. Some of our workers are from outer islands and rural areas. They have not been exposed to everyday English.

“In the early days, I was often asked to mediate and translate, helping them understand the different documents they had to read, even work contracts.

“But now, with more experience, some of them have been here for six years, and they are more familiar with how everything works. Now, the older staff are translating and helping those who are new to the industry.”

The Bay of Plenty Fijian community is working with labourers to help them feel at home while away from their families.

“We work closely with the companies and are in touch with them to find out when the workers are arriving and what we try to do is visit the workers where they live and welcome them in the traditional Fijian way,” he said.

“We involve them in celebrating special days like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Fiji Day, and we now have several Fijian pastors who visit the workers and take them to church activities.”

Understand the law, organization says

The Pacific Island Community Trust in Tauranga has also been working with RSE workers for almost a decade.

They say workers must also be helped to understand the agreements they are signing and New Zealand law before they leave the Pacific Islands.

The trust’s chief executive, Esther Martin, said workers needed to know the local laws and the consequences of not complying with them.

“I think it’s important for any worker coming to New Zealand that they really understand the work they’re going to be doing and that they understand the laws in New Zealand because, you know, some of our workers do break the law here and get sent back,” she said.

“It’s important for them to understand what they can and can’t do. I know they’re here to make money to send back home to support their families, and that’s our primary focus.”

“But they also have to understand what the consequences are if they don’t do their job, or behave inappropriately outside of work hours. It’s more about understanding the laws in New Zealand.

Martin said they were working with workers in the Solomon Islands on a pilot project for “pastoral care” aimed at reducing accidents.

She said this would be a new path.

“It’s a step into aquaculture and we’ve already partnered with a mussel farm where the workers are from the Solomon Islands,” she said.

“This is a pilot project and we hope to improve the care for workers who come here, especially in terms of driving, as many of our homes are 40 minutes or even an hour away from their workplace, so they need to drive.”

“So they’re standing for 12 hours and then driving for over an hour. For us, it’s about health and safety, to remove any risk of injury or accident.

She said the Pacific Islands Community Trust was developing a framework.

“But the primary focus of the framework is the health and safety of workers and eliminating risks,” she stressed.

The company wants more time

DMS Pro Grower, the kiwifruit management and operations agency, employs more than 200 workers from across the Pacific and Bali.

The company also works to schedule time for employees to spend with community members to reduce the likelihood that they will miss their families back home, said Rache Trimbell, the company’s human resources manager.

She said connecting with the community is a must, especially after experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago.

“I think a lot of the RSE workers who were lucky enough to get into New Zealand at that time were stuck in New Zealand and couldn’t get home,” she said.

“I know some of the Tuvaluan team members have been here for up to three years because they cannot go home. So being so far away from their families is a real torture for them and we at DMS are very aware of that.

“We try to organize some day trips and things like that, just to get them more connected to the community because they miss their families when they’re here.”

Trimble said their workers are vital to the industry, from which they are well rewarded.

“At DMS, we couldn’t do our job without our RSE staff. They are a really stable workforce,” she said.

“We mainly use them on night shifts… which means they are reliable. We can trust them.

“They come back every year. Many of our RSE workers have been coming back for years, so they have a wealth of experience. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to pack millions of kiwifruit.”

The company has been recruiting workers since 2016 and has brought in 220 workers this year from Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Samoa and Bali.

Ezra Schuster, the Bay of Plenty Waiariki Regional Public Service Commissioner (RPSC), said Island workers were vital to the industry.

“They are a critical workforce that drives our economy, especially in the horticulture sector, and they are a vital part of our community,” Shuster said.

“Without workers, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

He said the program included two days of awards and mutual partnerships between New Zealand and Pacific Island nations.

Worker Recognition Program

Meanwhile, Ni-Vanuatu Colin Shem and Trevor Arunabat said they have seen the benefits of what they have achieved, especially the funding that has helped them and their families back home.

Both work at Bay Kiwifruit.

Shem said he believed workers also needed to be honest with themselves and set goals with their families before leaving their countries for New Zealand.

“What I would say to all the future RSE staff is to make sure they are prepared and have goals set before they come,” he said.

“Most of us come to New Zealand without a goal and some leave empty-handed. So if you have a goal, don’t change it once you get here.”

Arunabhat said he used his earnings to build a house, buy a car and pay for his children’s school fees.

“That’s all I can do, and I’d like to tell anyone who wants to come to be prepared.”

The RSE and horticulture stakeholders are meeting in Tauranga this week to discuss issues affecting the industry at the annual Horticulture New Zealand conference.