Local Labour with Rachel Jones

Hardeep Singh's story about being fired after whistle-blowing on dodgy practices in the kiwifruit industry comes as no surprise.

Just last week I met another Indian orchard worker, who described serious exploitation of migrant workers on the region's kiwifruit orchards.

The sad thing is it's not just migrant workers suffering at the hands of poor employers. Employment conditions are terrible for many workers.

As a candidate, I hear plenty of stories. Like the story of a young woman who was hired as a beautician, given no copy of her contract, and was owed $1500 in pay when her employer's business failed.

Or the man who was told he wasn't getting paid extra for working on Waitangi Day because it was a 'made up” holiday.

Or the aged care workers whose jobs were terminated when their organisation was bought out; and who then had three days to sign contracts with a new owner on a lower rate, or lose their jobs entirely.

Many low paid workers in our communities live in a climate of fear.

They need their jobs because they need the income. Being branded a troublemaker for questioning an employer's practices only makes things worse.

Hours suddenly dry up. They are told if they're not happy they can leave, there's always someone else waiting to take their place. And there is, because jobs are scarce.

We have an underclass of working poor in this country and this city. These people want to work. They want to be able to look after their families. They want to be contributing members of the community.

But they are paid miserably and have employment conditions that suck the life out of them. No matter how hard they work – and I've met people who hold up to three jobs – they can never get ahead.

A fair day's pay for a fair day's work used to be a basic New Zealand value. It doesn't seem to be any more.

I encourage anyone who has stories of poor employment practice to email me at: rachel.jones@labour.org.nz