Report author Cathy Bi said the story that struck her the most was of a girl who worked a shift at a restaurant, but was not paid because her employer told her it was only a trial.

The girl stood up to her employer and won, Bi said.

"What she communicated to me, is that this isn't common for her friends to stand up to the employer, but it is common for employers to say 'Oh we don't pay for this period' or 'We don't give contracts'".

The report was released at a Thursday evening seminar in Wellington: Unfair treatment of migrant workers - what can we do?

It has been produced to help the Church community to understand the experiences of migrant workers.

Many people who move to New Zealand to work have positive experiences their workplaces.

But the study reveals that some migrants working in Wellington experience unfair treatment and unreasonable working conditions.

It is hoped that the report will put a spotlight on barriers that prevent people from asking for help.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand director Julianne Hickey says, "Holding employers accountable to good employment practice is a responsibility that sits with everyone."

The study says migrants can be assisted through clarifying basic employment rights, referring them to accessible legal experts, and helping them to look for alternative work.

"It cannot be up to migrant workers alone to report cases of poor employment practice, and our research shows that having a good support person in the community can bridge several of the gaps and vulnerabilities that migrant workers face," Hickey said.

The findings are based on a small-scale qualitative research project about migrant worker experiences that was undertaken by the social justice agency in the Wellington Catholic Archdiocese.

Caritas spoke to 14 people, including migrant workers, unions and lawyers, between April and June this year.

Source

• scoop.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: new-zealand-immigration.com

"Given the extent of employment by Catholic organisations and charities, it is likely that thousands of people could be affected and lifted out of ‘in-work poverty'," reports the Christian think-tank Ekklesia.

Continue reading

Is it the ultimate result of colonisation unresolved, that one family, of European origin, is able to determine the economic future of a workforce that is more than 60 per cent Maori and which, for centuries, derived its living from that same sea and land from which the Talley family now make its wealth?

These are tough questions that we will need to answer if we are not to let more than 1300 workers and 5000 children go to the wall as their employer Affco, owned by Talley's Group, seeks changes to a collective agreement.

In the meatworks, a large part of a worker's daily pay depends on their team meeting daily tally kill rates, which, in turn, is reliant on the number of people in their team.

Affco wants to have the ultimate ability to determine and change either of these elements - the tally kill number and the team numbers - giving it the ability to reduce workers' earnings by shifting the goalposts.

It won't agree to an additional mechanism that protects minimum tally earnings. It has locked most of its unionised workforce out for more than 50 days straight to try to secure this change in the agreement.

Talking to one of these workers at the weekend during a protest in Whanganui, I learned how he had worked for Affco for 30 years, next to his buddy who had been there for 40.

They have shared all life's ups and downs and believe they may never work together again if the company has its way. They see the union as the only thing that keeps their working life decent and ensures their kids can also work in decent conditions.

Many of these families have exhausted all financial means. They have cashed in their KiwiSavers, frozen their mortgages and got credit card holidays. All these arrangements are coming to an end and they are starting to lose their cars, worry about their houses and realise their retirement will be a poor one. Continue reading

Sources

• Helen Kelly in The Dominion Post
• Image: Stuff