Another 1000 places will be available next season under New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employment Scheme.
The RSE allows workers from Pacific Islands to work on New Zealand farms picking fruit and vegetables for a number of months each year.
Kaniva News understands that New Zealand’s Minister of Trade, Todd McClay, will write to Island Ministers to tell them the number of places has increased to 10,500.
Last year the cap for the 2015-16 season was raised from 9000 workers to 9500.
Speaking before a major conference on the seasonal employment schemes in Nuku’alofa last month, Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ana Bing Fonua, said the RSE scheme has been in operation now for 10 seasons.
About 4000 workers left the kingdom to work off shore every year.
Fonua said the schemes were set up to address unemployment in the Islands and help deprived families lift their standard of living.
Tongan workers employed under the RSE scheme generally earn a minimum rate of $NZ16.50 an hour, but some can earn more than $200 a day in peak season.
A similar scheme, the Seasonal Workers’ Programme, operates in Australia.
However, according to Radio New Zealand, it operates at a much lower level and has been plagued by reports of migrant workers being exploited, with a Queensland labour company being convicted of ripping off ni-Vanuatu workers earlier this year.
According to the Tongan government, the schemes have been worth TP$400 million to Tonga, with most of that money being sent home.
According to a report from Tonga’s Reserve Bank released last month, remittances were above TP$20 million per month up to July, with most of the money being private transfers.
The World Bank says Tonga depends more on money sent home by migrant workers than any other country in the Pacific a new report says. In 2015 remittances made up more than a third of the kingdom’s GDP in 2015.
The increase in the number of places came in response to demands from Island nations involved in the PACER Plus negotiations.
PACER Plus is a wide ranging set of trade negotiations involving the Pacific’s Island nations and Australia and New Zealand.
However, as Kaniva News reported earlier this year, the negotiations have hit several roadblocks, with Fiji and Papua New Guinea, the two largest Island economies, and Vanuatu, voicing doubts about the value of the proposal.
A report funded by the Australian government said no matter what was agreed, Australia and New Zealand would continue to dominate the Pacific economy and very few benefits would flow to ordinary Islanders.
The main points
- Another 1000 places will be available next season under New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employment Scheme.
- The RSE allows workers from Pacific Islands to work on New Zealand farms picking fruit and vegetables for a number of months each year.
- Kaniva News understands that New Zealand’s Minister of Trade, Todd McClay, will write to Island Ministers to tell them the number of places has increased to 10,500.
- Last year the cap for the 2015-16 season was raised from 9000 workers to 9500.
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