A contract company has been deducting money without permission and paying less than half of what it promised workers here on a Government scheme.

(The Marlborough Express )A contract company has been deducting money without permission and paying less than half of what it promised workers here on a Government scheme.
Vanuatuans working under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme for Seasonal Solutions, an Otago-based cooperative which also operates in Marlborough, claimed they were not being paid what was stated in their contract.
On television last night, their boss admitted the contract was wrong and that money had been taken for petrol without permission. He said he would look into the pay rates.
St Ninians Church pastor Ken Williams, who has been involved with the Seasonal Solutions workers, said the men were told in Vanuatu that they would earn less than was stated in their contract, but they would earn at least $1 per plant. However, they had earned between 20 to 70 cents per plant, with an average of 40 cents, Mr Williams said.
He said the workers were told they would return to Vanuatu with between $5000 to $6000 in the bank, but most had only saved $500 since they started work in May. The workers, who were due to leave in October, lived off just $70 a week which had to pay for food and any extra spending.
Current affairs programme Campbell Live last night presented payslips which showed that after several deductions were made for accommodation, insurance, petrol and living costs, workers were left with less than the minimum wage.Seasonal Solutions co-operative managing director Basil Goodman said that some employees were not being paid the rate stated in their contract. He said the contractual rate was a printing error created when the contract was carried over from one for other horticultural work.Mr Goodman admitted the company did not have permission from each employee to take $20 a week out of their pay for petrol and said he would stop taking the money and pay back what had been taken.Labour minister Trevor Mallard told John Campbell it was up to the Department of Labour to supervise the RSE scheme. However, the department had just three Nelson-based staff, and one was solely employed in an administration role, he said.Mr Williams said he believed the RSE scheme was a good programme, but it was up to the Labour Department to police it properly``They do need to closely vet the contractors and ensure they are simply being just. That's all we want.''
Wine Marlborough chief executive Gerald Hope said he was surprised that Seasonal Solutions, which had been upheld as a positive model of the RSE scheme, was involved.He said there had been rumours about the issue circulating but nobody had been able to provide him with ``substantive evidence'' such as pay slips or contracts to show what was happening.``Our position is, please tell us, give us the details so we can assist.''Mr Hope said the incident was ``isolated'' but he had previously voiced concerns about the fact there were no Department of Labour staff based in Marlborough.The Seasonal Solutions issue would probably be brought up at an internal industry debrief for the pruning season next week, Mr Hope said.

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