FORTY seasonal workers bound for New Zealand have received a pre-departure briefing in preparation for their work programmeunder the Recognized Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme.
Officials from the Labour Mobility Unit (LMU) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, which oversees the New Zealand RSE Scheme and the Australia Seasonal Worker Program, conducted the briefing this week.
A statement from LMU said pre departure briefing is an essential activity prior to a group of Seasonal workers departing for New Zealand or Australia under these seasonal labour schemes.
“Over a period of two days, officials covered relevant areas including living in New Zealand, the host country, the type of work that is expected to be undertaken and on issues surrounding financial management,” the statement said.
Deputy Director for the Department of External Trade, Jenny Barile, encouraged the workers to work hard to enable high productivity output during their stay in New Zealand.
“You are very fortunate to be chosen from hundreds of other applicants who applied through your agent so please take advantage of this opportunity,” Ms Barile told the workers”.
“Many other workers who have returned from working in other farms under this program, have greatly benefited from their hard work, and have improved their livelihood from the money they earned,” she added.
She reminded the workers to abide by and respect the laws of their host nation and to support each other as a family in New Zealand.
The Deputy Director also praised local recruiting agent, Islanders Agency, for selecting a balanced group of workers that represented nearly all the nine provinces in the country.
The first batch of workers under Islanders Agency left the country yesterday for New Zealand while the remaining ones will be departing in the coming weeks.
