Senior government officials held a public forum today to gauge the views of village pulenu’us about a proposed Memorandum of Understanding concerning seasonal workers
The proposed agreement between the villages and government relates to the New Zealand Recognized Seasonal Employees (RSE)), Australia's Seasonal Workers Program, (SWP), Canterbury Initiative Trade Employment and Approval in Principal Scheme, (AIP) in New Zealand.
The MOU is for village leaders to play a leading role in mentoring and monitoring their representatives who will be employed under the Regional Seasonal Worker initiatives.
And it will also include repercussions such as blacklisting the entire village from the employment programme for a certain time period if one of their RSE workers violates the condition of their temporary employment in New Zealand.
The Ministry of Prime Minister and Cabinet together with the Ministry of Women Community and Social Development hosted the public forum.
The three hour brainstorming session was co-chaired by Associate Minister of Women Community and Social Development Papalii Lio Foleni Lio and MPMC’s Chief Executive Officer Agafili Tomaimano Shem Leo.
Further discussions are in the pipeline with the MOU anticipated to be signed and sealed by July 1st.
There are 120 Samoans presently employed in Australia by two employers and over 1600 Samoans employed in farms in New Zealand.
Photo by Govt of Samoa