Labour Mobility Support Networks - 'It's Not Just a Seasonal Thing'

Abstract

This In Brief highlights local ni-Vanuatu support structures initiated through workers’ participation in Australia’s Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) and New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employer Scheme (RSE). It draws on recent interviews with workers, families, recruiters, leaders, chiefs and a support group in Vanuatu. In May 2016, more than 600 RSE workers and 64 SWP workers returned to Vanuatu.1 During a field trip in April 2016, just before their return, stakeholders insisted RSE and SWP were detrimentally affecting family structures. The social impacts of seasonal labour mobility schemes are described in various academic works; however, they are yet to be investigated in detail.