Pacific Magazine > Daily News

Kiribati Workers Complain About Pay, Crowded Housing In New Zealand

By Batiri Bataua on Tarawa
Saturday: August 02, 2008

The first New Zealand company to recruit workers from Kiribati under the New Zealand Regional Seasonal Employment Scheme is losing most of its I-Kiribati laborers because of poor living conditions and concerns over pay.

Fore Vintage, a farm company, had recruited several dozen workers from Kiribati earlier this year.

The Kiribati employees reported back to the Kiribati Labor Office, their families and local weekly newspapers that their hours of work are beyond normal standards and their salaries do not match their long working hours.

They also report that they are packed into a small house, with too many people. The fourth group of workers — 23 in all — to be recruited from Kiribati 23 by Fore Vintage, occupy a two-bedroom house.

But Fore Vintage owner Garry Maxwell-Smith denied this accusation, telling a New Zealand newspaper, the Marlborough Express, that only 16 workers lived in that house.

A Kiribati Labor Office release says it is aware of the problems and has visited the I-Kiribati workers, Maxwell-Smith, and other interested farmers in the Southern Island.

“Some workers have now found employment in other companies and more than 10 still remain with Fore Vintage,” the Labor Office said.