The Government of Samoa is mum on the new seasonal work policy and when it will be implemented as the Seasonal Employment Unit was moved from the Ministry of Commerce Industry and Labour (M.C.I.L.) to the Ministry of Finance.

Attempts to seek a comment from the Minister of Commerce Industry and Labour, Leatinuu Wqyne Fong who previously handled the scheme before these changes, were unsuccessful as he was attending to a personal matter when contacted by this newspaper.

Leatinuu in previous interviews earlier last month said the new policy was still in the draft stage and has been submitted to the Cabinet for deliberation.

The new policy which includes amendments to the old policy and address issues relating to poor working conditions, salaries, mistreatment, eligibility and contracts.

Leatinuu emphasised that the new policy was formulated to address these issues for the betterment of the New Zealand-run R.S.E. program.

"The new policy which our Government is looking at is what our Government is trying to do to improve the working conditions, improve the treatment of our workers, where they're staying, and for our workers to understand their contracts because you can't just sign the contract the jump on the plane and leave," he said. "I think that's mainly why our people go overseas with different expectations and what they get is because they don't understand what is happening. 

"Like the salary, for example, where they signed a contract that says they will be paid per hour but they end up being paid the piece rate or paid for the number of fruits they pick so we must look into these kinds of issues and for our workers to have a better understanding.

"Another issue is the accommodation conditions where they signed a contract that says one in the room but they end up staying with two or three others in one room which is different from what is in the contract."

The Samoa Government's new R.S.E. policy will address some of these areas, according to the Minister, who added that the requirement of being unemployed for six months and over will also become mandatory. 

"That is what the policy is trying to address as well as the agents. Our agents here recruit anybody because they don't care if you're employed or not but under the policy, you should be unemployed for six months before you can apply for seasonal employment.

"There is also an unemployment list where workers should be selected from but what happened was, they are recruiting just anyone and that caused such a dilemma, where you work today and you leave for seasonal work tomorrow then our local employers complain through the Chamber of Commerce."

According to Leatinuu, the complaint from the Chamber of Commerce on such issues is being addressed though he says the M.C.I.L also lapsed on their part by investigating the list of selected workers as they only approved it without a thorough investigation.

He said the revising of the new policy is not stopping the Government from sending seasonal workers abroad. In the last six months, there were up to 4,000 seasonal workers recruited overseas for employment including returnees.

Samoa's Cabinet last month approved the list of 238 seasonal workers to leave the country for seasonal employment and was also set to approve the list for September's recruitment.

Asked when the new policy will be announced, Leatinuu at the time said "soon" but it has been drafted and sent to Cabinet and the major changes addressing these issues have been finalised.

He added that one of the major changes in these conditions is called a "gap" where only 6,000 workers are allowed to be recruited in one country within a particular period.

"6,000 to New Zealand and 6,000 to Australia but Samoa hasn't even reached up to four thousand yet so there's still a lot of work that needs to be done," he added.

Meanwhile, the programme – which deploys thousands of Samoans to work in New Zealand and Australia for temporary work for up to three years – was previously managed by the M.C.I.L. It was initially under the umbrella of the Ministry of Prime Minister and Cabinet (M.P.M.C.) when the Government adopted the program in 2006 and moved it to M.C.I.L. in 2017. 

Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa announced a Cabinet reshuffle last week with the portfolio changes also including the moving of the Seasonal Employment Unit out of M.C.I.L.

The Seasonal Employment Unit was a division within the M.C.I.L. but according to Fiame, the Ministry will now be taken over by Leota Laki Sio and ministerial responsibility for the unit will also be changed. 

She added the seasonal employment scheme will be an added portfolio under the watch of the new Minister of Finance, Lautimuia Uelese Vaai. 

It could not be confirmed if this means the Seasonal Employment Unit will become an added division for the Ministry of Finance or be a separate entity altogether.

The changes in the Cabinet Ministers' portfolios following the reshuffle will go into effect from 1 October 2023, the Prime Minister confirmed in her press conference.