The NZCTU supports the Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Bill, which is intended to improve compliance and enforcement legislation to deter workers from exploiting migrants. This will help improve conditions for migrant workers.
However, the NZCTU notes that the new powers this Bill provides will only be meaningful if Immigration New Zealand and the Labour Inspectorate are adequately resourced to exercise them, and if penalties for infringements are set at sufficiently high levels.
The NZCTUs February 2022 submission on the Migrant Exploitation Inquiry, attached in the Appendix to this submission, identifies a further set of actions that government should take to prevent migrant worker exploitation.