Seasonal workers from the Pacific to be let into NZ without quarantining

Seasonal fruit-pickers from Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu to be let into NZ without quarantining from September

2nd Aug 21, 5:10pm by Jenée Tibshraeny

Image sourced from Flickr

The Government is planning to allow seasonal horticulture and viticulture workers from Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu to come to New Zealand without quarantining.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the plan was to let people employed via the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme into the country from September, ahead of the summer fruit-picking season.

She couldn’t put a number on how many people would come to New Zealand from the Pacific, but said there are around 7000 RSE workers currently in the country - 3000 fewer than the number usually employed during peak season.

RSE workers have been entering New Zealand via the 150 spots allocated to them in managed isolation every 16 days.

Ardern confirmed RSE workers need to be paid the living wage.

She said Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu weren't battling COVID-19.

Asked how the Government's commitment to making way for RSE workers fitted in with its immigration "reset", aimed at getting New Zealand to stop relying on low-skilled migrant workers, Ardern said the plan was always to keep the RSE scheme. She said it was also part of New Zealand's "development" work with the Pacific.

Businesses across the board are crying out for overseas workers, as they're reporting skills shortages, which are putting upwards pressure on wages.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi last month announced the Government would make it easier for businesses to continue employing migrant workers paid less than the median wage by doubling the duration of the Essential Skills visa to two years.

Essential Skills visas are available to anyone who is offered full-time employment (30+ hours) in New Zealand and can meet other eligibility requirements.

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Faafoi expected the change to provide more certainty to around 18,000 Essential Skills visa holders.

National leader Judith Collins said her party called for the Government to let RSE workers in, without requiring them to quarantine, back in March.

“It’s a good move but it should’ve happened much, much sooner," she said.

"Our agricultural sector has been crying out for workers for a long time now, and they’ve paid a heavy price for the Government’s inaction.

"The question now is, if we can bring in RSE workers without them having to undergo quarantine once they enter New Zealand, why can’t we prioritise other people from these three countries for quarantine-free travel?"

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39 Comments

by kpnuts | 2nd Aug 21, 5:16pm 1627881383

more rubbish thinking -- lets import cheap labour -- whilst the nurses and doctors and engineers are stuck waiting for visa applications or MIQ spots to be free -- and many current specialists cant get their families in !

All this keep us safe -- but yet we can do a favour for Auntie Helen and import a delta varient UN worker -- to one of the only countries without COVID -- surely if it was to be done - they should have gone to a country that already had covid ?

by streetwise | 2nd Aug 21, 6:13pm 1627884821

Mark my words: JA and Labour will be toast if the Covid delta-variant finds its way into the community. There will be no excuse. We have had plenty of time to prepare.

by Beanie | 2nd Aug 21, 7:16pm 1627888605

Do you really think we could keep Delta out...I think its almost inevitable we will get it. How many people have just returned from Oz...if it is as infectious as we are told then I give it 50/50 we will have it loose in the community by September. Like NSW we will try lockdown, and like them will start blaming the unjabbed when the lockdown doesn't stop it.

by Just a Plumber. | 2nd Aug 21, 8:02pm 1627891335

It is inevitable Delta will arrive, and with it, the media fuelled chaos “We ain’t seen nothing yet”. Hold on to your hats.

by lostinawoods | 3rd Aug 21, 1:04am 1627909459

Yep, the only question if the majority is protected (vaccinated) by then. Singapore went from a couple cases a day to 150 a day and 30 clusters in matter of a few weeks.
Tho unlike here, they have reached 70% vaccination rate (first dose).

by imhenry | 3rd Aug 21, 8:00am 1627934446

New Zealanders will not stand for another lock down from this incompetent shower of Politicians.

by Lanthanide | 3rd Aug 21, 8:31am 1627936311

Yes they will.

by kpnuts | 3rd Aug 21, 8:42am 1627936930

agreed -- but only up to the point that 60+% are vaccinated -- after that all bets are off - already quite a few rumblings from people who are fully vaccinated - that its peoples choice and so if they chose not to vaccinate - tough luck -- this will be incredibly divisive to the country before summer as the team of vaccinated start wanting their freedoms back!

by Pietro | 3rd Aug 21, 9:05am 1627938353

I have thought exactly the same thing. Those who refuse vaccinations will also oppose our borders being reopened. A conundrum. Vaccine passports are a must, much like licences to drive, passports to travel overseas, swipe cards for work, gyms, car parks etc.

by Toynbee | 3rd Aug 21, 9:12am 1627938721

They are actually quite different if you think a bit more about it.

by Halfway To Paradise | 3rd Aug 21, 9:38am 1627940315

It is verging on cruel how families are being kept apart, the availability of isolation places is a joke. It needs to get to the stage of get vaccines rolled out and open the borders. It’s possible to get people to selfisolate and check up on them. My son in UK was self isolated and had repeated check by people calling to see he was where he was supposed to be. Time Jacinda started being kind rather than just spewing the fake words.

by streetwise | 2nd Aug 21, 6:13pm 1627884832

Mark my words: JA and Labour will be toast if the Covid delta-variant finds its way into the community. There will be no excuse. We have had plenty of time to prepare.

by Lanthanide | 3rd Aug 21, 8:30am 1627936245

The 'cheap labour' as you put it is coming from COVID-free pacific islands.

I'm sure if those COVID-free pacific islands had nurses, doctors and engineers wanting to move to NZ, they'd be welcomed also.

by Pietro | 3rd Aug 21, 9:10am 1627938611

No mention yesterday of the the thousands of citizens stuck overseas in desperate circumstances with no hope of getting back, and with no support! What about their human rights! This government is a cynical, incompetent shower. You can be either of those things and get away with it, but not both!

by CWBW | 2nd Aug 21, 5:32pm 1627882369

That's great news for agriculture and the economy.

We should offer our brotherly (sisterly) welcome and celebrate it.

by Kauri | 2nd Aug 21, 6:42pm 1627886566

Not necessarily great news for economy in terms of productivity - a bunch of agricultural bosses will be breathing a sigh of relief that they won't have to buy more hydraladas and other productivity improving equipment and can stick with old school tech. On the plus side I agree that "it [can] be part of New Zealand's "development" work with the Pacific". The money can go a long way back home for them.

by sharetrader | 2nd Aug 21, 9:15pm 1627895738

i hope MIBE monitor the pay of the workers brought in , they are to be paid the living wage which is higher than they were paid in the past.

by GV 27 | 3rd Aug 21, 6:37am 1627929478

Is that the living wage but with additional clawbacks like board?

by Dale Smith | 3rd Aug 21, 9:38am 1627940323

You can just circumvent the living wage by putting them on a self-employed contract.

by Casual Observer | 3rd Aug 21, 12:19pm 1627949977

Not RSE staff.

by Casual Observer | 3rd Aug 21, 12:21pm 1627950069

And the Living Wage will be less than some RSE staff have been paid in the past.

by nz-it-worker | 2nd Aug 21, 9:37pm 1627897034

The report said international experience suggested that in the absence of readily accessible alternative sources of workers, productivity-enhancing alternatives to labour and skill shortages were more likely to occur, such as improving education and training, and increasing automation.

Wilson said he understood why employers turned to migrant workers.

"It's the rational thing for an employer to do - if you have a young, fit, motivated worker willing to do back-breaking work for seven days a week, and they're happy to be paid less than someone else, why wouldn't you employ them?

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/440858/rse-seasonal-migrant-worker-…

by rastus1 | 3rd Aug 21, 9:06am 1627938412

I wouldn't hold your breath on this actually happening for more then a very short time.
A prudent industry would be preparing to rely on home labour - as this will be the only source in times ahead.

by nktokyo | 2nd Aug 21, 5:36pm 1627882607

Good. Perhaps the government went down Fenton St in Rotorua to check out the alternatives.

by sharetrader | 2nd Aug 21, 6:15pm 1627884939

my call is that you will see a bubble with vanuatu, shortly, samoa and tonga to follow shortly after

by andreas_od | 2nd Aug 21, 6:20pm 1627885226

Oh , that is why they mentioned how poorly the Pacific Islanders were treated back in 70s . I hoped it was wholehearted confession, apparently it’s just to justify why the islanders must be an exception from MIQ . Certainly no one who picks up fruits wants to pay $3k for 2 weeks in hotel , fed up with this manipulation.

by a.t. | 2nd Aug 21, 8:37pm 1627893457

amazing what happens when you go down 10% in the polls

by Lanthanide | 3rd Aug 21, 8:36am 1627936561

The pip fruit board said they'd been negotiating with the government for months on this deal. So it has nothing to do with them dropping 10% in the polls, or the recent 'howl of protest'.

by Casual Observer | 3rd Aug 21, 1:05pm 1627952720

They had been negotiating for months and getting no where. Sure, it was just coincidence that significant numbers of horticulturalists were part of the protest, hort and viticulture crops are way behind in pruning because they cant get staff because RSE staff are a large part of the experienced pruners (this has potentially serious implications for crops loads/quality in the coming season), 3million cartons of export apples were left on the trees this last season because they couldn't be picked plus it is estimated 40% of all apples were left on trees, MPI is funding mental health workshops for horticulturalists because of the concern of mental health issues among the hort industry, and that some supermarkets, my local included, recently couldn't get stock, in our case granny smiths, because so many were left on the trees. All of this lies firmly at the feet of the govt.

by Chris-M | 2nd Aug 21, 9:22pm 1627896142

We had none last year and largely got by. Growers have had a year to plan, so should have no excuses if no RSE workers came in. Totally weak minded government just feeding the low wage low productivity economy.

by Lanthanide | 3rd Aug 21, 8:36am 1627936601

We didn't have none. There were many in the country when the borders shut back in March, and many of them stayed here all winter and summer.

by nz-it-worker | 2nd Aug 21, 9:27pm 1627896467

Interesting we had media stories on growers offering higher wages to attract New Zealanders last summer. I suspect this is the last time we will see these sort of market driven price signals.

by Squishy | 3rd Aug 21, 12:55am 1627908952

Of course, the exception to our border restrictions was to undercut the wages of the lowest paid members of our society and not high paid STEM professionals. While the beneficiaries of this are asset owners.

This isn't even centrist policy, it's firmly conservative.

by GV 27 | 3rd Aug 21, 6:44am 1627929877

DW, I'm sure it's coming just as the next polling round starts. Not a second before then though.

by kiwichas | 3rd Aug 21, 8:14am 1627935280

"She said Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu weren't battling COVID-19."
Probably correct currently, but what about September, is she confident that those islands can keep the Delta out, and if we get it, will those workers be allowed back home??
Currently Samoa 10% fully vaccinated, Tonga 13%, Vanuatu 8% first dose
Considering all the undocumented fishermen floating around in the Pacific and all the scattered islands and limited resources they have done OK so far.... feeling lucky??
They/we will likely run in to a vaccine hesitant wall as well.

by Lanthanide | 3rd Aug 21, 8:38am 1627936698

If the risk profiles of those countries change, then the government will tighten the rules in response. I would have thought that was pretty obvious by now.

They're also required to have pre-departure tests, and also a test on arrival.

by kiwichas | 3rd Aug 21, 12:42pm 1627951322

Hopefully, but we did not close the borders to Australia till they'd had the Delta for a month

by solardb | 3rd Aug 21, 3:14pm 1627960460

These are not low paid unskilled labourers, at least not the ones with any experience. On the whole , they are hard working, and very good at their job. There is simply not the workforce available in NZ with the work ethic, experience and attitude of these guys.
Secondly, this is sending badly needed money back to their families in the Islands , Nz would probably end up payong most of it in aid anyway .

by PocketAces | 4th Aug 21, 7:11am 1628017903

Only decent and fair comment on this entire thread.