Members of the community and multiple organisations came together today to hold a BBQ and parcel event for all the ELE labourers who lost their jobs over Christmas. Video / NZ Herald
Volunteers in Christchurch are helping workers including migrants abruptly laid off before Christmas when labour hire company ELE went into receivership.
And in Auckland, people provided food and information for more of the workers who lost their jobs.
Alvin Casaje, co-ordinator at Migrante Aotearoa, said about 100 ELEGroup workers laid off were in Canterbury.
Casaje this afternoon said Christchurch City Mission had made donations which would be distributed at First Union’s 68 Langdons Road premises in Papanui.
“Some of them are out of town. We’re giving to their friends. They authorised their friends to get the [donations].”
People queued at the East Tāmaki site today where a sausage sizzle was on and grocery hampers were donated.
Paddy O’Regan, sales director and co-owner at recruitment company Remarkable People, said the East Tāmaki event was a chance for the industry to rally.
The collapse of five ELE companies left an estimated 1000 people out of work last week. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
He told the Herald some of the laid-off tradespeople faced language challenges and complications from immigration.
The ELE workers have a variety of different visa statuses.
Carpenter Guillermo Fabello has been here for several years, but his wife and children only arrived in New Zealand a few months ago.
Carpenter Guillermo Fabello is among those put in a precarious position because of ELE's sudden collapse. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
He told the Herald a few days ago he was owed two weeks’ pay and was not sure what to do next.
O’Regan said the workers would require ongoing support.
He said he hoped workers would also get educated about accessing support services such as I am Hope, Mates in Construction, and EAP, or employee assistance programmes.
Other labour hire firms including Extrastaff and Hirestaff have joined efforts in recent days to support the sacked workers.
Volunteers distributed food parcels in Onehunga after the closure of ELE Group companies left hundreds of Filipino migrant workers out of work. Photo / Alex Burton
Mikee Santos, Union Network of Migrants co-ordinator, said a few dozen more food parcels would be distributed in Auckland this coming Saturday.
Some workers had been unable to get the packages on Christmas Eve.
“We’ll have a short second wave,” he told the Herald today.
The deliveries will be at First Union at 120 Church St in Ōnehunga, expected from 11am to 1pm on Saturday.
Mikee Santos and a team of volunteers sorted tens of thousands of dollars worth of food donated to migrant workers laid off by ELE. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
This afternoon, Santos said about $50,000 in cash and food donations had been distributed to sacked workers.
Non-profit, church, and community groups also took part in the 48-hour Ōnehunga food bank challenge, as did volunteers including children and teenagers.
ELE Holdings, ELE Management, ELE Limited, Tranzport Solutions and RISQ New Zealand all went into receivership five days before Christmas.
Receivers at Deloitte said ELE Security was still trading.
Deloitte’s Rob Campbell last week said he’d contact parties to collect outstanding money for ELE and Tranzport Solutions.
