The Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations, Hon Parveen Bala is currently visiting Fijians working under the Recognized Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme in New Zealand this week.
From Monday, the Minister visited a number of employers and Fijian workers at Napier and Hastings in the Hawkes Bay region.
The objective of the visit is to strengthen relations between employers and Fijian workers on the ground, acknowledge employers confidence in the recruitment of Fijian seasonal workers and hear “first-hand” of
the challenges.
This is an opportunity to discuss with employers the possibility of increasing our numbers by recruiting new workers apart from the returned workers.
“Even though employers have spoken very highly about the performance of our Fijian workers and it is very pleasing to hear their good performance, there is still room for improvement that is required by everyone to maintain the confidence of employers and also build-up our numbers”. Fijian workers were also very grateful for the timely visit by the Hon Minister and his team.
On Tuesday and Wednesday the Minister travelled to visit employers and Fijian workers in Blenheim and Nelson in the South Island before returning to Fiji tomorrow.
Minister Bala is accompanied by his Permanent Secretary, Mr. Osea Cawaru and Director NEC, Mr. Lui Mario with the assistance of the first Secretary for Fiji’s Embassy in Wellington, Ms. Maraia Vakasilimiratu and Mr. Tony Jensen of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), New Zealand.