The current treatment of seasonal workers in Aotearoa is racist and an example of modern slavery, Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Saunoamaali'i Karanina Sumeo says.

Sumeo conducted a review of the conditions of people coming to Aotearoa under the recognised seasonal employer (RSE) scheme.

This scheme allows workers from Pacific nations to come to Aotearoa during the summer to pick fruit. There are 19,000 placements this season.

Sumeo said the current treatment of seasonal workers exhibits many features of modern day slavery and breaches eight different human rights, including the right to equality and freedom from discrimination, the right to just and favourable working conditions and the right to freedom of movement.

She said the findings had made her disgusted and ashamed.

“[We heard about employers] holding on to passports for ‘safe keeping’, as if to say these grown Pacific men wouldn't know the importance of a passport.”

“It is a way of treating a slave. You take their most key document, their identity, and force them to work whether they are sick or even if they want to leave,” Sumeo said.

The practice was clearly racist, because “they would never take the passport of someone from France or Portugal, yet they'd do it to a Pacific person”, she said.

In the past these abuses have been discussed as being committed “by a few bad apples” but Sumeo said based on the investigation by the Human Rights Commission, these abuses are a “widespread issue”. 

The human rights breaches RSE workers face

Employers deducting money from paychecks for tools like boots and gloves, charging for mandatory employer transport, and forcing workers to purchase provided dinners are just some of the abuses seasonal workers face

After all deductions, Sumeo said some workers were left with $35 pay at the end of a fortnight.

Workers reported not being allowed guests and being restricted from leaving the region or even their accommodation in some instances during their free time.

In one instance, the report said a husband and wife were reprimanded by their employer for choosing to spend a night together instead of their gender-separated accommodation. 

And in another example, a woman who entered a relationship while working as an RSE was “forced to present a negative pregnancy test to her employer or risk termination of her employment”.

Despite being charged between $150 to $175 a week in rent, workers shared bedrooms with up to seven people  - meaning employers are often charging more than $1000 a week per bedroom.

In one situation, the report said 18 workers were made to pay $160 a week to share 9 sets of bunk beds in a room.

The report said many workers had been restricted from engaging in the cultural practices of sharing kava. 

An industry leader told the commission this was “necessary to ensure that RSE scheme workers would behave themselves”.

Change is needed

Sumeo urgently called on the Government to review the RSE scheme and make changes that bring it in line with the human rights enshrined in both the New Zealand Bill of Rights and the seven international human rights treaties New Zealand is party to.

The report's recommendations included introducing minimum accommodation standards, assurances and transparency about pay and deductions for RSE workers, and an end to the restrictions of many personal freedoms during their free time 

“Now that the truth is out we can use our power to stand up and do something,” Sumeo said.

Top Image: An RSE worker on a vineyard in Marlborough. Credit: Sunday

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