Tuesday Sep 30, 2008

The Government says it has learnt lessons from the first year of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme and is going to improve it.

The RSE enables employers in horticulture and viticulture to recruit up to 5000 overseas workers a year to meet labour shortages.

Last year 78 per cent of the 4681 workers were from Pacific Forum countries, which are prioritised under the scheme.

Immigration Minister Clayton Cosgrove said today the uptake had exceeded expectations and for the first time in many years there were no concerns about labour shortages during the busy apple harvests in Nelson and Hawke's Bay.

He said that as a result of lessons learnt and all the parties working together to discuss issues, changes would be made:

* There would be improvements to pre-departure orientation information for RSE workers so they knew what to expect when they arrived;

* There would be enhanced pastoral care planning;

* RSE workers would be able to change employers; and

* Employers would be required, on request, to fully disclose all payments received from workers.

In addition, the Department of Labour was:

* Investigating ways of ensuring that health costs were manageable for RSE workers;

* Developing a good practice induction guide to help employers; and

* Looking at the merits of establishing liaison officers to help with "effective communications".

(Source NZPA)