Migrant exploitation affecting country's 'international reputation', says Government

Tuesday, 29 October 2019

(Video first published in October 2019) Anil Verma faces the threat of deportation, which would leave him unable to fight his case over unpaid wages through the Employment Relations Authority.

A crackdown on the exploitation of migrant workers is taking shape after ministers agreed it was a 'significant issue' requiring new rules for employers.

Exploitation was negatively impacting the wider workforce and businesses, as well as the country's international reputation, a Cabinet paper released by Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said.

It stated there were an 'estimated 450,000 temporary migrant workers in New Zealand at any one time', but an official from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) subsequently clarified the actual number was 235,000.

That included 193,000 people holding work visas and 42,000 international students with the right to work, labour policy manager Nita Zodgekar, said.

'In the Cabinet paper, the estimated number of temporary migrant workers in New Zealand erroneously included recent residents and the total population of student visa holders,' she said.

* Government called on to end 'visa bondage' for migrant workers

* Chorus promises improvement after failing to prevent exploitation**

But the smaller figure still means about one in 11 of the country's total workforce of 2.6 million are temporary migrants.

Research commissioned from Auckland University by MBIE said common forms of exploitation included migrants being pressured into working long hours, below the minimum wage.

Deductions paid by Filipino construction workers to pay for squalid accommodation is one issue highlighted by researchers.

The Government will consult on 10 proposed law changes, with final decisions expected by July.

Those proposals include making businesses that sit on top of 'layered supply chains' potentially responsible for exploitation of migrants by their contractors.

That could have implications for the construction and telecommunications industries, where subcontracting is common.

New penalties are being considered for employers involved in 'low level' offences, and individuals convicted of exploitation offences may be banned from being company directors or managing businesses.

Other proposals include an '0800' number for people to report exploitation and a new 'bridging' visa that might allow migrants who had reported exploitation to extend their stay in New Zealand with a different employer.

The research conducted by Auckland University' Business School said the hospitality sector had been described as 'the Wild West of workers' rights' and said exploitation was also particularly prevalent in the agricultural industry, including in horticulture.

'In hospitality, exploitation was deliberate and sustained,' it said.

Filipinos in the construction industry sometimes had to pay recruiters $8000 to $15,000 to find work and then faced 'deductions' from their pay for everything from protective gear to internet access, it said.

'Several of the migrant workers participating in the independent research had been required to pay their employer to work for them,' the Cabinet paper said.

A new rule extending the liability for labour breaches to companies sitting on top of 'layered supply chains' could have implications for the telecommunications and construction industries.

'This was in return for the promise of employment that would qualify them for an essential skills or residence visa.'

Some of those problems may have become less common since November, when employer-assisted post-study work visas were replaced with open visas that make former students from overseas less reliant on a sponsor.

Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway is due to report back to Cabinet by March.

'One of the most prominent, and systematic, cases of migrant worker exploitation in the New Zealand telecommunications industry in recent years emerged in 2018 around the exploitation of migrants working for Chorus subcontractors,' the university study said.

In April, Chorus released a report from financial services firm MartinJenkins that said it had failed to sufficiently oversee subcontractors connecting homes to ultrafast broadband (UFB).

Evidence was presented to Chorus' board three years ago that 'with hindsight' should have alerted it to the risk of migrant exploitation, according to the report's author, former States Service deputy commissioner Doug Martin.

The report revealed more than half of the 1600 workers hooking up homes to UFB for Chorus were migrants on temporary work visas, and that more than 70 per cent had English as a second language.

Telecommunications companies could be among firms impacted by the Government's proposal to tackle 'layered supply chains'.

Lees-Galloway's proposal would mean businesses could be held liable for employment law breaches if they had 'significant control or influence' over an employer that broke the law.

They would either have had to have known, 'or have been reasonably expected to have known', that the breach would occur, and then not taken reasonable steps to prevent it.

The university study took a swipe at private training establishments catering to foreign students, saying several operated as sources of 'cheap unlawful labour' and some helped facilitate the exploitation of students.