The Ni-Vanuatu RSE-Worker : Earning, Spending, Saving, and Sending

Sammanfattning: In April 2007, New Zealand (NZ) launched the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme.  The scheme allows for unskilled workers from the Pacific Islands to enjoy the benefits of seasonal work in NZ’s horticulture and viticulture industries for up to seven months at a time.  One of the articulated objectives of the scheme is to advance the effects on development in the countries of origin of the workers, for which remittances have been stressed as key-benefits. Although previous data and interviews concerning these aspects are marginal, all studies indicate clear benefits for Pacific Islanders.  In contrast, this study provides the novel insight to the individual views and perceptions of the earning, saving, spending and remittance possibilities of 23 Ni-Vanuatu RSE workers in June of 2008.  The findings indicate an absence of autonomy among the individual RSE workers to decide over and manage the spending of their respective incomes, along with negative implications on the potential for workers to send remittances while working in NZ.  Identified as the primary cause of this outcome, is the dual and simultaneous role that NZ based companies, on the one hand, can play as recruitment agents in Vanuatu, and on the other hand, as pastoral care agents in NZ.  This twofold capacity creates a middle hand situation that severely restricts the possibilities for the workers to access their wages while in NZ.  The conclusion therefore holds that, in this example of 23 Ni-Vanuatu RSE workers, the degree of remittances depends on the type of employment governing the participation of the workers in the scheme, as opposed to the individual spending and saving patterns, differences in earnings, or differences in the availability of work of each worker respectively.