134 workers bound for the shores of New Zealand under the under the Recognized Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme are currently undergoing a two day Pre departure briefing.
The Pre departure briefing which started today(Tuesday) and ends tomorrow (Wednesday) is an essential activity that always takes place, prior to a group of Seasonal workers departing for New Zealand or Australia work under the labour schemes.
The briefing is delivered by officials from the Labour Mobility Unit (LMU) at the Department of External Trade of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MFAET). The LMU oversees both the New Zealand RSE Scheme and the Australia Seasonal Worker Program (SWP).
The 134 workers are recruited by five different employers and they will work on various farms around New Zealand.
In her opening remarks the Deputy Director for the Department of External Trade, Ms. Jenny Barile, informed the workers that they must ensure that they work hard, to enable high productivity output as this will lead to them earning sufficient income to save and at the same time sustain themselves while working in the orchards in New Zealand.
“You are amongst the fortunate ones who are selected from hundreds of other applicants who have applied to be part of this program, and as such I ask you to take advantage of this opportunity.
“All of you will be working in New Zealand under our Country’s name and I urge you to be good ambassadors representing our country when in New Zealand.
“Many other workers who have returned from working on other farms under this program, have greatly benefited from their hard work and tangible results can be seen,” the Deputy Director said.
Ms. Barile also reminded the workers that they must not lose sight of the purpose of travelling to New Zealand, which is to work hard to earn money to help improve their own livelihoods as well as of their families. .
Also delivering remarks at the opening, was the New Zealand Deputy High Commissioner to Solomon Islands Mr. Tim Breese who reminded the workers that they must work hard in order to earn good money from the Scheme.
“RSE is a win win situation for all those involved under the scheme as such I ask you to make use of this opportunity, the Deputy High Commissioner said.
The briefing covers various relevant topics including, living in New Zealand, the type of work that is expected to be undertaken, going through worker contracts, finance, how to save money and so forth.
RSE season usually starts around October of each year and goes on until around May of the following year.
The first batch of this 134 workers will leave this Thursday and are expected to be in New Zealand for six Months. More workers are expected to leave in the coming months
Solomon Islands usually sends more than 650 workers in one season.