New Zealand's transport workers' unions are calling on their government to put Fiji on notice after police launched an investigation into alleged human trafficking of foreign seafarers by a local shipping company.
.. Photo: Facebook/Goundar Shipping Limited
About 20 Filipino workers accused Goundar Shipping Limited of abusive treatment including not being paid.
The group claimed they were brought to Fiji on false promises by Goundar almost three years ago but ended up working in unsanitary, unsafe conditions for seven days a week.
The Filipinos also claimed the company held back their passports and refused to get them tickets home after they raised concerns about their situation.
New Zealand's government said it was keeping a close eye on how Fiji responded to the allegations against one of the largest shipping companies in the country
But the unions said New Zealand needed to go further and put pressure on Fijian authorities.
Six trade unions in New Zealand - Aviation and Marine Engineers' Association, E Tū, First Union, Maritime Union of New Zealand, Merchant Service Guild Industrial Union of Workers and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union - are calling on the government to "put Fiji on notice" over the case.
International Transport Workers Federation's New Zealand National Coordinating Committee chairperson Paul Tolich said ITF investigations had uncovered allegations of "widespread abuse, underpayment, unsafe conditions, and even of human trafficking and slavery in New Zealand's own backyard".
While the unions welcomed the police investigation, they feared a potential whitewash remained once the seafarers left the country to return to the Philippines, Tolich said.
"Dozens of Filipino seafarers were convinced to come to our region and work on Fiji's biggest ferry fleet on the promise of fair wages and conditions.
"But failure by the Fiji government to enforce these seafarers' employment contracts, and guarantee their basic workers' and human rights, has meant that these seafarers have been trapped working against their will in Fiji for years."
Paul Tolich. Photo: Supplied
'Put Fiji on notice'
Tolich said the unions want New Zealand's ministers of foreign affairs and workplace relations to raise the seafarers' case immediately with their counterparts in Suva.
Fiji needs to know that New Zealanders expect a thorough investigation of the abuse that the workers suffered and any offending employers fully prosecuted, he said.
"We want a commitment from Fiji to make changes including legislative change and proper enforcement so this doesn't happen again to other workers.
"The New Zealand government should offer to help with that, if that's what's required. We can't have migrant workers being exploited and trafficked in our region."
Goundar Shipping fired three of the seafarers in December when the company found out that they had spoken to local union representatives about their rights.
The Filipino workers claimed they were abandoned at a remote port and had to spend the night sleeping on a dock before making their way back to Suva.
Tolich called on the NZ government to launch an investigation on how exposed New Zealand firms were to the supply chain risk from having used Goundar Shipping's services.
Anti-slavery laws around the world often require companies to take active steps to make sure their supply chains are not abetting slavery, human trafficking or migrant worker abuse.
Tolich said the NZ unions supported calls by their Fijian counterparts for greater recognition by the Fiji government so they could better stand up for all workers, migrant or local.
"When there are problems of underpayments and abuse, stronger unions are the best way to support workers to speak up without fear," he said.
"Joining and forming unions is a fundamental human right."
Tolich said Fiji recently won election to the presidency of the United Nations Human Rights Council pledging to stand up for human rights.
It was time to show that leadership at home, he said.
