One of the issues highlighted by the recent stories on migrant worker exploitation was a reluctance to complain about breaches of employment law because of fear around visa issues.
Examples are international students working in excess of their allowed hours of 20 hours a week and those here on work visas that are tied to the business, so they are effectively bonded to that employer – even if they are being paid less than the legal minimum wage.
How does Immigration NZ deal with migrant workers who want to complain about breaches of NZ employment law and minimum wage, but are fearful about the consequences.
They refer you to Crimestoppers and there seems to be no other way to complain. Immigration NZ advertises Crimestoppers up front under ”Report Immigration Fraud“. You can either fill out an online complaint form which apparently goes to the on line site in the UK or ring their call centre, which is also in the UK.
Crimestoppers is also used by the Police, and probably very effectively, but is this the best alternative for migrant workers, who want to complain about breaches of minimum wage, but who are worried about being stung over their visa?
I’m not sure. Would be interested in your views.
Not an easy issue, and this will sound a bit harsh, if they are breaching their visa conditions, but then being exploited for work, they are still committing immigration fraud.
You can’t just elevate the visa status of anyone who exposes a bad employer to cover for this either.
Firstly – issues with pay packet are surely a department of labour issue, not an immigration issue. Does the process they use to investigate pay issues look at eligibility of the workers at all? You would think so, but maybe it doesn’t?
Secondly make the information easier to come by for immigrants. A simple google search brought up the Fair Work Ombudsman in aussie, but was harder to get information leading to NZ. I can only assume this is why you put up a page about reporting immigration fraud and tried to (erroneously in my opinion) frame it as Immigration NZ sending people with wage concerns to Crimestoppers. Surely that is a leap of faith…
How did Immigration/DOL cover it under the last labour government?
Rob.S. statement says it all…they’re immigrants or those on limited visas…who cares? It underscores middle New Zealand’s attitude to those coming here, nothing has changed from the 1970s dawn raids…except the raids.
At what point did I say I didn’t care about them? Talk about reading in to something what you want to see rather than what is actually there!
My statement is a logical one – if people were not working outside the terms of their visa, then they wouldn’t be open to exploitation, and able to challenge through the normal system. That’s just a fact. It also doesn’t change that I don’t think the website for reporting immigration fraud is a likely place for people who are being exploited while committing immigration fraud
How do you fix that? There are all sorts of arguments showing as little or as much compassion as you like.
Is the answer to relax the rules so they are no longer committing immigration fraud? I honestly don’t think NZ has the capacity to support that.
Do you tighten it so that there are more checks and balances (more thoroughly vetting positions that people are using to get work permits etc), which would reduce compliance issues but also likely reduce access?
I think it’s two fold –
- Access to information should be easier (Immigration should certainly be referring to the DOL?)
- Some level of assurance that the DOL will behave with compassion towards the cases.
I’m sure Winston would crank up the ‘they shouldn’t be there argument’ but it is not mine (considering I am an immigrant technically, and NZ has been good to me, it would be pretty hypocritical to take shots at other people who want to come here…).
Rob. S.Point well explained and taken.
@Rob S at 10:21am
My understanding is that the DOL always dealt with wage arrears claims under the last Labour government.
The idea of sending migrant workers to Crimestoppers to report wage arrears disputes is just absurd. They are not a criminal issue, and any police are much more likely to take an interest in the immigration status of said complainant than wage arrears which are what the police would refer to as a “civil matter”.
However, having followed the Immigration link, it looks as if either Darien has misunderstood, or provided the wrong link. There is no suggestion from the link provided that this is an avenue to complain about wage arrears. Unless this is not what Darien was implying?
:confused:
To adapt Ronald Reagan.
Immigration NZ is not the solution to the problem; Immigration NZ is the problem.
@Tim G : Sorry I should have given the context. What raised my interest was an immigration official telling TVNZ that migrant workers who were afraid to report minimum wage abuses could contact Crimestoppers. That’s why I posted this. It seemed weird to me as well.
@Rob S : Appreciate your comments. Your suggestions at 12.37pm make sense to me. What I don’t like is the “contracting out” of investigations into wage abuse, because they are connected to immigration issues.
I didn’t see that particular report, apologies on that front –
What an odd thing to say and isn’t particularly logical – because if the DOL suddenly turns up one day to check out wage abuse, the fear would still be that they would check the immigration status too even if the tip off was anonymous via crimestoppers!
I have somewhat flippantly suggested over the years “try calling the cops if you are underpaid” to demonstrate the role of the NZ Police in the scheme of things.
“Crimestoppers’ aka “Narkwatch” certainly should not be the first place for workers to find justice, try FIRST Union’s http://firstunion.org.nz/content/migrant-workers-meeting-auckland instead.
Narkwatch? Is doing the right thing and informing on undesirable or criminal activity so wrong to you that you would use that term?
Not ‘Narking’ is the bloody problem in this case, and one that is so prevalent in worse things like cases of Child Abuse and Spousal Abuse, Bullying in schools/work places/communities. People die because people won’t man up and Nark.
A shame to sully it when the union you link to are in their own way (whether I agree with unions or not as being the right way to fix employment problems) trying to do the right thing and stand up for people who are being marginalised.
Rob S is right that if people do not act outside their visa conditions they would have no fear. The same applied to sex workers before prostitution was decriminalised: people argued that if sex workers did not engage in illegal activities they would not be abused. This is logical, but doesn’t do anything to solve the problem of abuse.
People breach their visa conditions because they don’t have better options. They were allowed into this country with little or negative asset (borrowed money), interestingly by INZ at the first place, misled by some dodgy agents and employers in NZ. They then realise that they would have no way out (ie paying back the loan for their study) unless they accept the only job offer they could have, which offers less than the minimal wage and requires them to work more than their legal entitlement. What bargain power do they have? As long as we don’t decriminise those people who report evils, evils will continue to be sheltered by the law which throws the meat to the wolves first, before wolves are dealt with.