Orchardist slams slavery claims

These workers, including three brothers, are all from the same village on the island of Espiritu Santo - one of the three main islands in the Vanuatu group.

They spend a maximum of seven months in the country picking fruit and pruning the orchard. During the pruning season, workers earned on average, $1,011 a week net over three months - after paying an accommodation charge of $100 a week and $50 a week for food.

So, when Dyer read about claims that Pacific Island workers are being treated as "slaves" under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme, he wasn't happy.

In the last issue of Hort News, human rights lawyer Lisa Meto Fox called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into RSE working conditions, similar to the one held in Australia recently. Fox claimed that RSE workers were underpaid, being kept in sub-standard accommodation and denied visitors. She claims the treatment of RSE workers tantamount to modern day slavery.

Dyer told Hort News he acknowledges that Fox has found some negatives in the RSE system and has highlighted them. However, he believes she fails to understand the cultural challenges faced by both employers and employees, and the safeguards in place to look after workers.

The Dyers know the Vanuatu life and culture very well.

"Mavis and I began our relationship with Vanuatu in 1980 through visiting the village of Caseveia in South Santo and working with eight workers on a local farm.

"We got to know a particular family very well, and after we returned to New Zealand, Malkam Mele from Caseveia village, came to live with us for three years to attend Tauranga Boys College. He is one of the RSE workers who returns to us each season."

Dyer's contribution to Caseveia has been recognised by the villagers who have made him an honorary chief and gifted him a small piece of custom land near the beach where they built a small house for the Dyer family.

Mele, his stepson Kalo, and three Mele brothers make up the five-member RSE worker team on the Dyer farm.

Malkam and the boys live in a house next to the Dyers on their Lower Kaimai property.

Dyer says the terms and condition offered to his workers were far from modern day slavery as claimed by Fox.

"The choice of food is theirs alone. We don't dictate what they eat.

"Our staff are taken to Tauranga two or three per week, so they can shop for personal items, food or to send money back to Vanuatu," he told Hort News.

Social trips are important for the Ni-Van (people from Vanuatu) culture and these are arranged both locally and within the region.

Dyer says Fox talks of RSE workers not being allowed visitors to their accommodation, not being allowed to stay overnight and not being allowed to drink alcohol during their personal time outside of work. She talked about restrictions and patronisation, says Dyer.

"These four issues relate to the cultural differences between the employers' country and the culture of the RSE workers.

"Take alcohol as an example. In Vanuatu, alcohol, while available, is out of reach for most people because of cost. They survive by selling coconuts and growing food in their gardens.

"There is no spare cash to use for things like alcohol, so they are not used to consuming large amounts of alcohol.

"In our case, staff can consume alcohol at their accommodation, but we have seen the repercussions of binge alcohol drinking off-site and it is not good."

The Dyers do not permit kava consumption on the orchard.

Kava is available in the region but it can kill, claims Dyer.

"Some time ago one of our workers died, two weeks after returning to Vanuatu, from the side-effects of drinking kava."

Workers staying on the Dyer orchard are welcome to have visitors, including other Ni Vanuatu (Ni Van) people.

Dyer says their relationship with the Vanuatu village goes beyond the RSE scheme.

In 2020, Santo Island was devastated by a cyclone. The Dyer family set up an account at a local hardware store near the village to help with repairs to Caseveia village.

"These actions are not patronisation but about respecting each other as people and helping where we can."

Mavis says the terms and conditions for the RSE workers are set out by the Government.

She says wages have gone up as both NZ and Vanuatu Governments ensure the scheme remains fair to the workers.