Seasonal workers easy prey

Rose Harding An annual fruit industry problem which has reared its head again could be reduced if everyone went through the right channels.
Foreign backpackers being ripped off by unethical contractors is a perennial problem in the industry and is being made worse by the dire state of the industry.
The problem is compounded this year by a 50 percent reduction in the amount of thinning work available, the number of orchards being pulled out and hard-up fruitgrowers looking to save money.
The owners of at least two backpackers' lodges in Hastings report young foreigners have come to stay with them after fleeing from cheap accommodation promised by some employers.
As well as enduring substandard, damp and dirty accommodation, the workers often were also not paid for work they had done.
However, Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers' Association executive officer Dianne Vesty says the organisation provides some protection.
"All growers and contractors are known to us.
"Any problems that arise with these people can be sorted out.
"We have every few such problems through our office and they tend to arise when people don't use our services.
"The fruitgrowers' group has its own website and supports the PickNZ website for both jobseekers and employers.
"Anyone looking for seasonal work should know about us."
She said some people still chose the cash payments with cheap accommodation options instead.
"They must have a gut feeling that things aren't right.
"Sometimes it's cultural and they don't understand the need to go through the right channels and go by word of mouth instead."
She said a nationwide seasonal work strategy announced today should go some way to getting the profile of seasonal employment raised with the aim of getting workers and employers safe by going to the right place.
The problem of ripped-off backpackers tends to spread wide.
Jennifer Norton, from AJ's Backpackers in Hastings, says she spends many hours every season trying to track down contractors to ensure her clients are paid.
She says she needs to ensure their rents are paid but also because she feels she has to protect young people a long way from home.
She knows who the dodgy contractors are and won't let them near her lodge to recruit staff.
"However, they pick them up in other ways, including backpacker networks.
"When they (backpackers) arrive in New Zealand, they are like babies."
She said the situation had improved in the last few years because "I have learned who the bastards are".
She worries that backpackers from other countries will be the future leaders and decision-makers in their countries and will form a poor impression of New Zealand because of the poor treatment they received while they were here on their OE.
Another lodge owner said many backpackers arrived here with no work permit or visa and desperate for money, which made them vulnerable to employers who offered them cheap accommodation and cash payments.
They apply for work permits but find they are at the bottom of the pecking order from Work and Income after local unemployed people, she said.
To get permission to work legally, they need a firm job offer but some employers decide that involves too much paperwork for someone who might stay only a few days or weeks until they get a better offer.
Both lodge owners said that only a minority of contractors were bad and most backpackers were happy with their pay and conditions.