I got an email about employment rights from Immigration NZ

[webmister]

They have mentioned employment rights in that email that mentions the following points for employees:

• Employees aged 16 years and over must be paid at least the appropriate minimum wage. The adult minimum wage is $14.25 per hour. For the full range of minimum wage rates click here.
• Having a written employment agreement, and being provided a copy of this by your employer.
• Four weeks' paid annual holidays at the end of each year of employment.
• Five days' paid sick leave after six months' work, 11 public holidays per year.
• One 10-minute paid rest break for every four hours worked plus one unpaid 30-minute meal break when working more than four hours.

That email got me wondering if the NZ government is serious about implementing these rules they can simply walk into any Indian or other Asian run store and find out that none of these rules are applied on workers where workers commonly work for $4-6/hour, 8-10 hours per day, 7 days a week with no written agreements and no annual or sick leave.

Do you think NZ Government is motivated to control this exploitation of workers or do they just want to show they are concerned about it while allowing it to continue? If they were serious, they can easily catch the culprits as this practice is widespread and can be seen happening everywhere.

[IanW99]

...
Do you think NZ Government is motivated to control this exploitation of workers or do they just want to show they are concerned about it while allowing it to continue? If they were serious, they can easily catch the culprits as this practice is widespread and can be seen happening everywhere.

Yes they are serious. For example see http://www.mbie.govt.nz/news-and-med...abour-breaches.

They do rely on people especially workers reporting these violations and unfortunately many employees prefer to keep their jobs and not say anything.

If you know of any locations that are doing this you can and should report them.

“I would also encourage anyone in this situation or who knows of people in this situation to phone our call centre on 0800 20 90 20 where concerns will be handled in a safe environment.”

Ian

[knick85]

Little india Merivale christchurch, punjabi dhaba christchurch, liquor store on woodham road christchurch, souvlaki and indian food outlet in south city mall in the food court!!! I know people working for as less as $7 per hour..

[webmister]

Yes they are serious. For example see http://www.mbie.govt.nz/news-and-med...abour-breaches.

They do rely on people especially workers reporting these violations and unfortunately many employees prefer to keep their jobs and not say anything.

If you know of any locations that are doing this you can and should report them.



Ian

I think it is wrong for Government to rely only on employees to report as Government also suffers loss due to these practices and they should take initiative just like they act on their own against tax evaders. This has created a parallel system in New Zealand where everything from hiring to wages is done in complete violation of laws which is enough reason for NZ Government to intervene.

The employees who work there have no other options so they prefer to keep silent. Another reason is that these businesses hire people from their own communities as they trust them and then employees feel more pressured to remain silent and don't complain no matter how much they are exploited.
If you look at the labor practices in the countries where these business owners come from, they are definitely not going to stop at $4. They could make people work for $1 per hour and even work for food will not break their community standards. How will that look like in New Zealand?