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Issue Number 29/30, May 2008
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Kapatiran Issue
No. 29/30, May 2008
WELLINGTON KIWI PINOY
New Solidarity Group To Support Filipino Workers In
Welllington
- Mary Ellen OConnor
Formed at the beginning of 2008, WKP was set up to
support Filipino workers in Wellington, within their
employment and more generally. What has become most
urgent is the case of the Filipino nurses in their
struggles with the recruiting agents who bring them here.
These businesses charge them excessive fees in the form
of high interest loans as well as providing
misinformation about the nature of the employment they
are entering. Nurses are told they will be working in a
hospital in New Zealand. However, on arrival most find
they are to be employed in aged care, unable to utilise
most of their nursing training and earning significantly
less than they had counted on.
They have no choice but to stay because they are bonded
to these agents, for between two and three years to pay
back their loans. They tend to work very hard, sometimes
working a night shift on top of a day in order to
maximise earnings. Shifts are changed at short notice
making it difficult to have any kind of social life. They
are often forced into crowded living arrangements because
that is all they can afford (there have been recent
articles in both the New Zealand Herald and the Press
exposing the appalling living conditions and general
exploitation of Filipino nurses, working as rest home
caregivers, in both Auckland and Christchurch. Ed.).
Many fear unions as being representatives of established
authority and are reluctant to speak up for fear of
worsening their already difficult situations. The agents,
usually Filipino themselves, also charge the aged care
providers a considerable fee for finding staff. Dennis
Maga, a Filipino trade unionist presently employed by the
NZ Council of Trade Unions, based in Auckland, is working
to bring some justice into this situation. Dennis
contact in Auckland is dennis.maga@yahoo.co.nz or
migrante_nz@yahoo.co.nz. Union membership would go a long
way to solving these problems and key unions are already
involved. NZ Nurses Organisation has already defended one
case and their magazine Kaitiaki has given good publicity
to this issue. Service and Food Workers Union is aware of
the situation through the Fair Share for Aged
Care campaign.
But these abusive practices are still going on. There is
a pressing need to accumulate a body of evidence about
these practices, in order to advance the cause and
possibly take a case to court. If there are any Filipino
nurses who would be prepared to speak about their
experiences and have them documented, please contact
kinoywgtn@gmail.com. Anonymity assured. Non-Filipinos
pre-pared to help in this cause are most welcome also.
On the positive side, Counties Manukau District Health
Board is in the throes of signing up to a deal with the
Philippine Overseas Em-ployment Administration to bring
Fili-pino nurses here directly and thereby cut out the
recruiting agents. If this deal works well, there is no
reason why other DHBs couldnt adopt it.
Mary Ellen OConnor is Coordinator of Wellington
Kiwi Pinoy.
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