Facebook used to recruit illegal migrant workers in New Zealand
RadioNZ, “Facebook used to recruit illegal migrant workers”, 16 September 2016:
A human trafficking scam that’s carried on undetected for years is claimed to be using Facebook to lure migrants into jobs paying less than $10 an hour on New Zealand orchards.
A man from Vanuatu works in a Hawke’s Bay orchard under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme.
First Union says underpaying workers is systematic across some North Island orchards. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades
Investigations have been launched after a Filipino man, who paid his first month’s wages as commission to an offshore organiser, raised the alert.
First Union organiser Dennis Maga, who knows the Filipino orchard worker who has since returned home, said he was looking into the case with assistance from the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
“This is some sort of human trafficking because the orchard managers are consciously targeting those vulnerable migrants, luring them to work in that industry, knowing that they are quite desperate.
“Based on the information we found out from a friend of ours, who actually worked in one orchard company in Waikato, we realised that this is quite systematic because it’s also actually happening in other orchard companies in the North Island.”
