Seasonal workers sent home

Written by Mathew Lemisio
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Govt issues stern warning The government has issued a stern warning to those working under the New Zealand government’s seasonal scheme. “You step out of line, you’re coming home,” warned chief executive officer of the Ministry of the Prime Minister, Auseugaefa Poloma Komiti. The warning came after three seasonal workers were sent home last weak for “drunken related behavior”. “It’s true,” Auseugaefa responded when pressed for confirmation on the reports received by Newsline. “We have decided to send these workers home after reports from their employers indicate they were drunk and got into a fight.” He added that such actions were against these workers’ working contracts. “Apparently, there was an incident which is also alcohol related in November of last year where eight people were involved. “A general warning was given to all the workers that when an incident of such nature happens again, then their working contracts will be terminated.” Auseugaefa said the three workers sent home were not involved in the November incident. “But like I said there was a general warning for everyone. The seasonal working scheme saw people from various South Pacific countries, including Samoa going over to New Zealand to work as “pickers” for several months. They are to return back to Samoa once their contract ceased. Auseugaefa said this was not the first time an incident involving a Samoan worker was reported to them. “There was also an earlier case where a man ran away from where he used to work,” he said adding that such behavior could jeopardize future opportunities for other Samoans in the coming years. “That’s why the government takes a very serious stand when these sorts of matters arise,” he said. “The government doesn’t tolerate these sorts of behavior. “We want to make sure that our people keep good records with their employers so that more opportunities are given to us in the future.” Auseugaefa added that if more of these acts continue to rise, then the government would put its foot down. “At the moment, we are not looking at stopping families of these workers (ones sent home last week) from applying for employment under the scheme. “But if these occur more often then we will certainly look into it. It’s for the better”. The first lot of seasonal worker left last year and according to Auseugaefa, barring last week’s case and that of the one who ran away, the majority of Samoan workers are making the most of this opportunity. The first lot are expected to return home later on this year. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 23 January 2008 )

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