{"id":2559,"date":"2015-02-09T18:02:58","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T05:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/?p=2559"},"modified":"2015-02-09T18:04:11","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T05:04:11","slug":"migrant-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/?p=2559","title":{"rendered":"Migrant Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Roshni-Sami\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Roshni Sami -Internet Mana candidate<\/p>\n

The 2013 Census revealed a New Zealand of increasing ethnic diversity \u2013 213 ethnic groups to be exact. \u00a0New Zealand, and Auckland in particular, can now be classified as “super diverse”, according to Massey University humanities and social sciences research director Professor Paul Spoonley<\/a>. \u00a0We now have over one million people living in New Zealand who were not born here, up nearly 6% since 2001, to one in four<\/a>.\u00a0 Twenty-three per cent of Auckland is Asian, now a very significant non-majority population.\u00a0 After New Zealand European and Maori, the largest ethnic groups in New Zealand are Chinese, Samoan, and Indian.\u00a0 Ethnic diversity has been increasing.\u00a0 We also have a sizeable population of around 145,000<\/a> people on work visas, a further 73,500<\/a> on student visas and eligible to work up to 20 hours per week, and up to 8,000<\/a> Regional Season Employer Scheme workers from the Pacific<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Migrants moving to any country make big sacrifices in the hope of the bigger goal to live a better life in a better country.\u00a0 In NZ our economy also needs migration to succeed.\u00a0 Beyond this utilitarian analysis, we should also think about what people actually have to go through, in their quest for residency.\u00a0 Which is really a desire to participate on more fair terms in the job market.\u00a0 Is it ok to have a group of people living as second class citizens in NZ simply because they are on work visas?<\/p>\n

Exploitation of new migrants happens primarily because they are caught in a catch-22 with their employer due to visa regulations and cannot speak out.\u00a0 Anyone on a work visa is heavily reliant on their employer \u2013 either to renew their work visa so they can stay for another year; or, in the case of a one year working holiday visa, because the visa holder both hopes their employer will support a proper work visa application at the end of the one year visa, and because changing jobs is risky, as it less and less appealing for prospective employers the fewer months you have left on your visa (Chinese and Filipino working holiday visa holders are prevented from working for more than three months with any one employer, making their time in NZ particularly precarious). \u00a0When you compound this with racial prejudice in the job market, as well as the willingness of migrants to endure more hardship (because they have more to lose), the system filters most migrants down into casual, low paid, low skill, sometimes unpleasant jobs in the service sector like door-to-door and parts of retail sales, call centre work, customer service centre work, cleaning, caregiving and hospitality work; and also in the farming sector.\u00a0 Many are not unionized.\u00a0 Shame of failing and having to return home, as well as having family reliant on sending money home can also serve to trap work-visa holders in bad work conditions; furthermore it is risky for these precarious workers to move between jobs as most are living week to week on low wages.\u00a0 This structuralised desperation can also serve to drive wages down, especially without collective bargaining, as Helen Kelly, President of the Council of Trade Unions, pointed out last week:<\/p>\n

\"kelly\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Contracts and payments are not monitored or checked, but rely on employees to come forward and make complaints; sometimes the incidence<\/a> of migrants being paid less than minimum wage, having pay withheld can go on for years.\u00a0 These could be contributing factors to 20%<\/a> of Asian households being overcrowded, and the rise in poverty related illness<\/a> in Asian children.\u00a0 Migrants also face issues such as family separation, long drawn out visa processes<\/a>.\u00a0 International students are particularly at risk, young and isolated from family, with inadequate support.\u00a0 Even when migrants achieve residency, they then face racism in the job market and work place with no means of protection or recourse except the Human Rights Commission. \u00a0Racism accounts for 55% of surveyed<\/a> incidences of discrimination (2008&2010 NZGSS) most of which was experienced while working or when applying for\/keeping a job.<\/p>\n

Globalisation has led to almost all ingredients of the market: goods, services, finance, laws, information, corporations to be globalized to various degrees, but what lags far behind is the globalization of labour.\u00a0 Free and unfettered access by all workers to all job markets.\u00a0 Aside from barriers like cost and various forms of prejudice, migration remains a highly political issue and leaves citizens of some countries with more freedom and opportunity than others.\u00a0 Anyone on a New Zealand passport is privilege to visa waiver in a privileged club of countries; and even the right of access to work in Australia and the UK.\u00a0 New Zealand and Australia are ranked 5th<\/sup> and 7th<\/sup> (respectively) on the visa restrictions index<\/a> where 1 has the least restrictions.\u00a0 Compared with Samoa 48th<\/sup>, Tonga 49th<\/sup>, Fiji 51st<\/sup>, Papua New Guinea 53rd<\/sup> as some of our closest neighbours; and India 74th<\/sup>, China 82nd<\/sup>, and the Phillipines 69th<\/sup>, as our top three migrant populations. \u00a0Some citizens of the world have more freedom of movement than others.<\/p>\n

A critical question to ask is how has the government (local and national) responded to the increase in the number of new migrants in NZ, particularly in Auckland. \u00a0Aside from the power dynamics in the work force due to visa regulations; those on a work visa are also not able to access a variety of social services, ironically including migrant settlement services.<\/p>\n

The Migrant Employment Assistance Fund managed by WINZ restricts third party service providers with severe eligibility criteria: to assist only those who have been residents for less than two years, or those who are on a open work visa (this would include the Silver Fern visa, graduate job search visa, work visa via partnership).\u00a0 It clearly excludes those workers on a student visa eligible to work up to 20 hours, as well as anyone on a working holiday visa or part of the NZ-Pacific Recognized Seasonal Employer Scheme for horticulture and viticulture industries.\u00a0 However it is the latter, who are on the more restrictive visas, that are more likely to need help.\u00a0 For example Chinese and Filipinos on working holiday scheme are restricted to work for one employer for a maximum of 3 months making their time in NZ particularly difficult, as mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n

The services available to migrants include those provided by Auckland Regional Migrant Services, Migrant Action Trust, Auckland Chamber of Commerce \u201cNew Kiwi Career Success Programme\u201d, Chinese New Settlers Trust, and information services from 18 Citizen Advice Bureaus.\u00a0 The key factor missing in settlement support is the one-on-one, face-to-face advice, to help people solve life problems in a totally unfamiliar context where there are significant power imbalances.\u00a0 This is resource intensive and currently most services offered are only informational (leaflets or websites) or referrals to Migrant Action Trust which delivers workshops to inform and engage migrants as well as the more resource intensive one-on-one assistance. \u00a0At initial stages migrants need more hands on help, but the government prefers to fund informational services leaving migrants stranded until they get on their feet the hard way.<\/p>\n

While Auckland Council prides itself on supposed multiculturalism, spectactularly displayed through the public festivals like Chinese New Year and Diwali there are actually no programmes from the council to help new migrants settle successfully or less painfully, despite the fact that Auckland is the largest recipient of new migrant settlers.\u00a0 Multiculturalism is a flagship enterprise for Auckland Council, which capitalises on cultures that it does not directly support.\u00a0 Fundamentally neither Auckland Council nor the government are really addressing the true social and economic issues that come with diversity and settlement of new migrants.\u00a0 New Zealand continues to attract skilled migrants who often feel misled<\/a> once the realities of the NZ job market become apparent.<\/p>\n

During 2014 Migrant Action Trust worked with their 20 affiliate community groups along with a number of supporting community organizations and unions including SCT, Auckland Refugee Community Coalition, Migrante, and the Living Wage Movement to create the document \u201cMaking Multiculturalism Work\u201d<\/a>.\u00a0 They used this to lobby local and national government candidates for commitments on the ten key areas of concern that have been raised time and again and called on the government and candidates standing for parliament to address the concerns of those communities. Currently it falls upon under-resourced community organizations to take up the role of central government in settling new migrants.\u00a0 The commitments made by each party were as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nThis Political Party commits to support:<\/strong><\/td>\nNational<\/strong><\/td>\nLabour<\/strong><\/td>\nGreens<\/strong><\/td>\nNZ First<\/strong><\/td>\nMaori Party<\/strong><\/td>\nInternet-MANA<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/strong><\/td>\nA well-resourced non-government community-led hub to develop and deliver appropriate community-based settlement services for migrant and former refugees in Auckland.<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/strong><\/td>\nA Living Wage for all public sector workers and workers employed through government contracts to deliver services on a regular and on-going basis.<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/strong><\/td>\nA Living Wage for all government contracts to deliver services on a regular and on-going basis to the community.<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/strong><\/td>\nDurable solutions to family reunification policy through consultation with key players, including community representatives and related agencies.<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/strong><\/td>\nStrategically located housing for the elderly according to language and culture so they can access friends nearby, get mutual support and be engaged.<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2717<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/strong><\/td>\nOne-year transition programmes for international students across the government sector, such as volunteer or work experience opportunities.<\/td>\n\u2717<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2717<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/strong><\/td>\nEqual opportunities programmes in public agencies, to ensure our ethnic communities have equal access to jobs and are not discriminated against.<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/strong><\/td>\nProgrammes to legalise undocumented migrants, giving priority to skilled migrants who have been in NZ for seven years and over and guaranteeing NZ-born children of undocumented workers are citizens of NZ.<\/td>\n<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/strong><\/td>\nMore information and services for undocumented migrants to explore options to legally work and live in NZ, without fear of being arrested and deported.<\/td>\n<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/strong><\/td>\nA two-year open work visa to offer effective protection to victims of labour exploitation.<\/td>\n<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n\u2713<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

It seems the migrant community (including former refugees and new Pacific migrants) have little to hope for from this National government.\u00a0 In the previous term the government also refused to assist with issues that Migrant Action Trust has found to be of main concern to migrants and former refuges. These included having a well-resourced non-government community-led hub to deliver appropriate settlement services for migrant and refugee groups, a living wage, effective family reunification policies, culturally appropriate housing for the elderly, transition programmes for international students to assist with employment upon graduation, programmes to legalise undocumented migrants, the granting of citizenship to those children born to undocumented migrants, and effective protection and the opportunity to look for new employment to migrant victims of labour exploitation.<\/p>\n

So next time your dinner is interrupted by a telemarketer or door-knocker, highly likely to be a migrant worker, take the time to muster some kindness and respect.\u00a0 This part of our community is on the margins and their suffering and challenges are largely invisible.\u00a0 Kiwis enjoy the diversity of cultures that makes life and food in their cities more interesting, however the low status and precarious position of these people, that are really striving hard, is not adequately acknowledged or responded to by public institutions.\u00a0 Most new migrants are caught off guard by the realities of living in NZ, but take whatever means necessary to stay here including demeaning, unpleasant work and living conditions; and being separated from loved ones.\u00a0 It\u2019s a silent struggle that noone wants to know about.\u00a0 Politics is on the side of voting residents.\u00a0 Various forms of xenophobia shape the election topics headlines whether it is about migrants driving up the property prices or taking jobs; however what goes unsaid is the convenience for New Zealand residents to have willing workers for some of the worst jobs in our society.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s not the migrants that should be grateful to be in NZ, but Kiwis that should be grateful for our migrant communities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0Roshni Sami -Internet Mana candidate The 2013 Census revealed a New Zealand of increasing ethnic diversity \u2013 213 ethnic groups to be exact. \u00a0New Zealand, and Auckland in particular, can now be classified as “super diverse”, according to Massey University humanities and social sciences research director Professor Paul Spoonley. \u00a0We now have over one million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":2560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2559"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2559"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2564,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2559\/revisions\/2564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}