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Yesterday marked 5 years of Vanuatu’s participation in the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme. The RSE scheme allows New Zealand employers in the horticulture and viticulture industries to bring in labour from the Pacific to fill seasonal jobs. Vanuatu is one of the biggest contributer countries to the scheme and RSE income is now the Melanesian nations second largest income earner. the Department of Labour’s National Manager, Recognised Seasonal Employment, Emily Fabling said in a press release “RSE has been an absolutely wonderful scheme for our horticulture and viticulture industries, in terms of ensuring they have the labour force they need at specific times of the year. And of course we are delighted at the benefits the scheme brings to Vanuatu and other Pacific nations.”
This view ignores some of the more brutal realities of the scheme, which has seen migrant workers mistreated and exploited in rural New Zealand. In 2009, Workers Party activist Byron Clark spoke to Lina Ericsson, a Swedish political scientist who conducted field work among N-Vanuatu workers in the Bay of Plenty.
You can listen to the interview here:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
