Kalafi Moala
Nine key RSE employers from the Nelson/Tasman province of New Zealand met at the end of the week and decided to go directly to the highest level in Tonga, as something needed to be done to get the workers home.
The common feeling is that it is negligent on the government’s part to continue to ignore the plight of RSE workers who needed to be repatriated. Promises have been made they would be a priority among those repatriated. The truth is that they are not.
There are repatriation flights arriving in Tonga with no RSE returnees. Why their plight is a lot more critical than others is that many of them have been held up overseas for far too long. Some after their term of employment for over a year.
Government is being accused of turning a deaf year to the complaint about the huge social negative impact of workers being held up in New Zealand, with no quick repatriation plan.
Covid 19 border lockdowns and Tonga’s strict quarantine rules are credited by this Government for keeping Tonga Covid-free. But, there is growing concerns that there may be no life to return to in Tonga for the RSE workers.
The social cost of Tonga’s poorly executed repatriation is more keenly felt by the seasonal workers because they should have been home a year ago. Some have been on the list to go home for the last 3 flights and still could not get on.
Others according to reliable sources have “cut in on the queue” because of their social rank, or worse yet, because they have connections to officials in the department that controls repatriation.
This writer recently interviewed a business couple who just returned to Tonga on a repatriation flight. They were only away from Tonga for less than three months. They booked a repatriation flight only a few days before it left Auckland, and they were assured seats on the flight after the husband called his friend in the responsible department in Tonga.
One RSE worker whispered in disappointment to a liaison officer that if he is not home for Christmas this year, it would be the third Christmas he has been away from his family. He added: “a family that is falling apart due to my absence. I hope it is still there when I get back.”
A member of a high ranking family who is a resident in New Zealand decided to return home for his mother’s birthday. All he did, he told this writer, was call the office of the responsible department managing repatriation flights, and “I got a seat.”
Obviously there are so many other examples of people who got seats on repatriation flights, while RSE workers get pushed to the back of the line.
The Nelson/Tasman employers who met were informed that despite the fact 36 seats were reserved for the next flight, none were allocated for RSE workers. Government issued a statement that “they have a plan for RSE to repatriate in May” but no details given. And no assurance it will happen, as they have promised similar things previously.
The employers are saying “it is clear this government places no value in the relationship built over the last 14 years, by failing to give priority to the needs of the workers who have been here for nearly two years – and at this rate likely to be for their 3rd Christmas.”
Labour Mobility has been a boost to Tonga’s foreign exchange and poor record of employment, so much so that it is now the biggest employer for Tonga. There has been up to 7000 workers employed annually between Australia and New Zealand since the program started. It is also the biggest foreign exchange earner of around $TOP20m per year.
While the financials look amazingly good, the social costs has always been high and now exacerbated by Covid 19, and a poorly executed repatriation plan, if it can be called a plan
This life-blood to many families and to the Tongan economy is unfortunately in the hands of an incompetent Government. The leaders are preoccupied with their own priorities and the campaign for the 2021 Election, while the things that really matter, the things that affect people’s lives are ignored.
Over the past 18 months, it is estimated there are over 150 from a work-pool of 1700 in New Zealand, who are “stranded under Covid.” These range from husbands and wives splitting, to many family members who were unable to be home for the death of close family members – grandparents, parents, and even children.
From about April last year, it was known and published by one of the media outlets that there were over 7000 nationals stranded overseas needing to be repatriated. But Government did nothing until August when repatriated flights were allowed, but with a capacity for the quarantine of only 52.
Later in October, this was increased to about 140 with only one intake every 4 weeks or so. Then they increased the capacity to around 270, but at the same time the stay for quarantine extended to 21 days instead of the usual 14 elsewhere in the world. There is also a week in between flights to give quarantine workers a rest and a clean up of the quarantine premises.
But earlier this year, MEIDECC revealed, and published by Matangitonga there were over 8000 still overseas. This contradicted earlier data given, and it seemed there was no reliable data on who is overseas and wanting to come home.
For the seasonal workers in New Zealand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs wrote to the Tongan Prime Minister about a year ago, to ask if Tonga could guarantee repatriation of its 1700 workers at the end of their contracts. The reply was negative, that Tonga could not afford it. This resulted in the loss of jobs offered for Tonga while other island nations like Vanuatu took up the challenge.
Since August/September 2020, there have been a drip feeding of workers returning home, and at one point there was even a chartered flight with 150, which was the largest out-take for RSE workers.
But since then, there had been a pitiful share of each repatriation flight despite the demand for seats. The demand, according to those employers in New Zealand had never been met, and there had even been cut-backs with the explanation that others needed it more.
There are numerous questions asked of the Government for their handling of the RSE repatriation that have not been responded to. But RSE employers are raising a number of issues, one being that the Tongan Government has made no communication with RSE employers during this difficult time.
Other issues raised has to do with workers experiencing significant health and mental illness issues. RSE team members are also being devastated by news they won’t be included in the next flights home, and low morale experienced among the workers.
Tonga’s reputation as a reliable provider for labour mobility is being damaged, and future relations of RSE between Tonga and New Zealand would be broken, and recruits could be made from other Pacific nations.
But employers in New Zealand prefer Tongan workers if there could be improvement in the repatriation program. They say that knowing the repatriation plan will be good, but the real solution will be to open more flights for more people to go back home.
They are also asking for the increase of quarantine facilities in Tonga. And maybe this could be an option for them to contribute to.
Obviously the New Zealand employers are making moves to help resolve the situation with Tongan RSE workers but Government must do something that in the end will bring an end to a problem that would not only affect Tonga economically, but more importantly have negative social impact on Tongan families.
END.