It is important our citizens are well looked after while working overseas - Usamate

It is important to get work overseas but at the same time we have to make sure our citizens are well looked after.

This was Minister for Employment Jone Usamate’s reply in relation to the issues raised by two groups of Fijian workers in New Zealand under the Recognised Seasonal Employer Work scheme about their working conditions.

Usamate says the good thing about the program in Australia and New Zealand is that it is based on government to government relationships, so an employer who wants to employ workers from Fiji has to meet certain conditions.

However he says sometimes issues arise.

Issues were raised earlier in relation to the poor quality of accommodation, less weekly wage pay, high charges of transportation cost, pay slip discrepancies and uneven income distribution for group contracts and also the need for more time to be given to workers to familiarize themselves with a task before moving to another work.

The Minister for Employment has also noted the current challenges and expectations from the employers and that communication and cross cultural understanding continues to be a challenge.