Migrant workers living at school camp forced to endure 'unacceptable' conditions: Labour Inspectorate

Friday, 23 September 2022

Photos stamped with “Official Information Act” show horticulture workers’ living conditions at Kenswick Christian camp.

Migrant workers housed at a school camp in Rotorua were forced to endure “unacceptable” living conditions, including sharing just two washing machines between more than 160 people, inspection reports reveal.

The Pacific Island horticulture workers, employed by fruit processing company Seeka, were crammed up to seven people to a room, in breach of immigration rules.

Men and women’s quarters were right next to each other despite complaints that female workers felt “unsafe”, and were too scared to go alone, outside, to the toilet blocks at night.

“I myself would not want to live in such conditions and can only imagine what our workers have to endure,” a Samoan liaison worker wrote in a complaint to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), according to documents released to Stuff under the Official Information Act.

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Two sites from Seeka were inspected, but only the Rotorua site had images included in the report.

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“I was contacted by one of the team leaders raising their concerns but hadn’t anticipated the severity of the living conditions … and those who have come before are shocked at where they are now living.”

The documents detail complaints about accommodation, pay and pastoral care issues made to MBIE about the Registered Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme this year.

The scheme allows for 16,000 workers to come from the islands to New Zealand each year to work for the $10 billion horticulture industry. They stay for a maximum of seven months, and then return home to their families. Currently, the Government is considering whether to raise the number of workers to 19,000 per year, as requested by the sector.

The release of the complaints follow concerns raised by Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Saunoamaali'i Karanina Sumeo in July, when she found workers in Blenheim living in substandard housing, including garages and run-down flats, where they were repeatedly falling sick, but directed to keep working anyway.

In total, six complaints were released to Stuff. MBIE withheld another 10 complaints about the RSE scheme as they were still under investigation.

Workers had nowhere to store food, or toiletries, or their clothing, the report said.

Two of the complaints related to sites run by Seeka, one in Rotorua and one in Katikati, north of Tauranga. Both were found in breach of Immigration New Zealand rules.

Workers could “barely move around” in their cabins at the Katikati site, inspectors said, and with no cupboards, were living from their suitcases. Rooms which should have had a maximum of two people had four workers living in them, and there weren’t enough toilets, or cookers, or washing machines for each person.

In Rotorua, workers were being charged $100 for food when they wanted to cook for themselves, and had no way of getting to town as there was only one van per 40 people, and none of the workers had a licence.

Seeka CEO Michael Franks said the firm was building a new site in Katikati to house its workers.

The Rotorua workers were being charged $150 a week for their cabins, while in Katikati, workers were paying $135 per week – for units one complainant said were publicly advertised as $100 a week.

“This means for three occupants Seeka is raking in $405 a week, and where there are four, $540 a week,” a complainant wrote about the Katikati site. “I and others in our community believe that this is exploitation.”

After its visit in May, the Labour Inspectorate told Seeka to immediately remedy the issues.

When contacted by Stuff, Seeka chief executive Michael Franks said the complaints had come at a time when Seeka was very short on both labour and accommodation.

He rejected the accusations about overcrowding, saying the facility had been signed off by the labour inspectors.

He said some of the nationalities tended to sleep communally, he said.

“It’s their custom, practice and culture. So they grab the mattresses and put them all in a unit and sleep there while their designated unit stays empty,” Franks said. “You cannot call this overcrowding, and really we can't deny them their freedom to sleep where they like.”

The RSE scheme is essential to the wine and kiwifruit industries. Video first published in 2020.

Franks said, in any case, Seeka had leased a more convenient facility closer for the Rotorua workers, and was building a new facility to replace the Katikati site.

It was not fair to say Seeka was “profiteering” off the accommodation. Again, rent allowed to be charged was set by the inspectorate.

“We spend a lot more supporting our RSE workforce than we charge in rent,” he said.

Seeka was recently re-accredited to employ RSE workers until 2025.

The documents also included details of an investigation into site run by Turners and Growers in Hastings, where a complainant said “a horrible stench of shit hits you when you arrive”, due to what they believed were overflowing septic tanks.

The complainant said workers were being housed five to a room, at a cost of $140 each. They calculated this would bring Turners $700 a week. “How is this not modern slavery?” they asked.

First Union’s strategic project co-ordinator Anita Rosentreter says the complaints prove the RSE issues are systemic.

However, the Labour Inspectorate did not uphold that complaint, after Turners said the smell only happened during warm weather in the afternoon when the showers were in heavy use. It said the accommodation rate it applied was “fair and reasonable.”

“As an accredited employer under the RSE scheme, we adhere to the government’s requirements around the provision of services and facilities to our RSE employees, including accommodation standards and costs,” Turners spokesman Craig Betty said.

MBIE also provided Stuff with an assessment the Labour Inspectorate had undertaken into orchard labour contract service Rasy’s Labour Services Limited in January, which identified breaches of the Minimum Wage Act, the Holidays Act, and the Wages Protection Act.

Green MP Teanau Tuiono wants a review into the RSE brought forward to prevent further exploitation.

It found one worker was not paid the full minimum wage, other workers had been paid fewer hours than recorded on the time sheets; that workers had been underpaid for unworked public holidays; and that deductions were taken from workers wages for damages and missing items from their accommodation, without written consent, and without telling Immigration New Zealand as required.

The assessment concluded the issues were systemic “and likely to affect all current and former employees”. However, the inspector considered the failings to be “careless mistakes” rather than cynical. It issued an improvement notice to the employer, asking it to fix the issues.

Stuff was unable to reach Rasy’s for comment.

First Union’s strategic project co-ordinator Anita Rosentreter said the complaints showed that rather than being “a few bad apples” mistreating workers, exploitation was prevalent throughout the industry.

“I am shocked but probably not surprised,” she said. “We knew there were widespread issues with this scheme with regard to worker exploitation, and now we know MBIE are aware of it too.”

The accommodation costs being deducted from workers’ pay were exorbitant, and unethical, and the treatment of workers was disrespectful.

“They’re not children, they shouldn’t be living in a school camp, sleeping on a wire bed and being told when to turn the lights out. We should be treating them how we would like to be treated, with manaakitanga.”

The Green Party’s Pacific people’s spokesperson Teanau Tuiono said the details in the reports were “disgraceful”.

“My heart goes out to these workers. This is exploitation,” he said. “Would this be acceptable for many New Zealanders if these workers were white? I don’t think so. We should be collectively outraged for these workers.”

Any increase to the RSE numbers should be stopped while a planned review of the system was brought forward.

“We can see this system is broken and needs to be overhauled, so what the review should tell us is how to replace it,” Tuiono said.

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood said decisions on the outcome of discussion with industry, unions and officials on the RSE cap for the upcoming season were expected in the upcoming weeks.