Migrant Exploitation

Migrant exploitation is an ongoing issue, especially in the building trades.

See this April 2017 article by Placemakers which referred back to the Tech 5 case and the now rather famous quote of “bonded servitude”.

Furthermore, some Filipino migrants found the contract they were given in New Zealand differed from the contract they had signed in the Philippines.

A key difference was the schedule of costs workers were liable for – in the vicinity of $7,700 to cover airfares, tool kits, insurance, etc. In some cases, employers said that if employees failed to complete their contract of three years, they would be required to pay a bond of $10,729. At the time, employment lawyer Paul Brown referred to this “as an attempt at bondage servitude”.

NZ has recently had the first conviction for human trafficking. See the following article about human trafficking by the NZ Herald:

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