NZ government looks to protect RSE workers rights

Transcript

IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: Look it is true that in the last couple of years some RSE employers have had enforcement action taken against them by the labour inspectorate. I understand that they have responded to that positively, and corrected where they've been perhaps operating outside the scope of the law. RSE employers really value their right to employ people under the scheme, and they could lose that right quite quickly if they are shown not to be meeting minimum standards of New Zealand employment law.

JOHNNY BLADES: How up to date are the compliance mechanisms? There's more RSE workers now, and I think you've spoken in the past about the need for this inspectorate... is there going to be more?

IL-G: One commitment that we made before the election is to double the size of the labour inspectorate. I'm working with the Minister of Finance on what that might look like in the first year. There's no doubt in my mind that we do need more people on the ground to more pr-actively enforce our employment law in New Zealand. And in general, a growing migrant workforce has meant that we need to be more proactive and vigilant around ensuring that all employers understand their responsibilities, and that they are upholding the very best standards for their employees. Where there are large concentrations of migrant workers, whether they be on the RSE scheme or here under our general immigration settings, I think we need to make sure that we've got the resources both through Immigration New Zealand and through the labour inspectorate to make sure those workers are being protected and their rights are being upheld.

JB: In the bill there are provisions for access (for workers) to unions, and information about that. Now there are claims by some unions that this hasn't really happened with the RSE workers, that they're not being told about unions and what they can access, and also that they might be discouraged.

IL-G: Yeah there's been nothing in our law up until now to require employers to provide information about unions. The choice ultimately sits with the workers themselves, but what we can do is make sure that's an informed choice. An also, what we're putting in the legislation is getting back to rights that unions once had, of being able to access workplaces and get in front of those workers and talk to them... that is something that was stripped away by the previous government. We think reinstating it is important, especially for more vulnerable workers, and migrant workers do tend to be more vulnerable because they're in a different culture, they're operating under different laws that they may not be familiar with, and so it can be difficult for them to know what their rights are. We want to make sure that we do as much as possible to make sure that they are well informed about what rights they do have.