Clamp on exploitation
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, spokeswoman Hilary Morrison 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.
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.
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’s 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.
‘‘This was in return for the promise of employment that would qualify them for an essential skills or residence visa.’’
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.