Migrants and their families are being threatened with death or injury if they complain to authorities that they have been trafficked, Workers First Union says.
The union believed it involved between 30 and 50 Filipinos, general secretary Dennis Maga told Morning Report.
The trafficking - from the Philippines to New Zealand - that the migrants had suffered was a "complete deception", he said.
"They've been made to believe that there are some jobs waiting for them. And they've been forced to pay an amount of money even though for example, in the Philippines there should be no placement fee. And then they've been told that they should not be disclosing that information to anyone once they arrive in New Zealand - if they do, there is also a death threat against them."
The threats were serious enough to scare them off reporting the trafficking to authorities.
"Their family back home is being threatened, that's our understanding. Not only the family, there's also a threat that if they go back home, just at the airport, they could be killed from there."
He said migrants from other Asian countries were also being deceived into coming to New Zealand, paying thousands of dollars for work, and finding no job exists.
"We are unearthing a lot of cases right now of a combination of migrant exploitation and elements of human trafficking," Maga said. "I think some of these rogue employers became more sophisticated in the way they operate. So for example, in the cases that we're dealing with, they've been promised a lot of work and if [migrants] pay an amount of money -between $10,000 and $20,000 - they'll be able to get a proper job in New Zealand and they'll be working in different kinds of industry.
"But once they arrive, it's a different work arrangement for them. To the point that some of them are really desperate now and some of them have suicidal tendency because they sold their assets back home - and they thought that the jobs that had been promised to them was the job that they signed from their country of origin."
Workers First Union general secretary Dennis Maga says the threats are serious enough to scare people off reporting the trafficking to authorities. Photo: RNZ / Jordan Dunn
He said trafficking was more serious than exploitation because of the coercion and deception involved, and the threats they now faced to stay quiet.
"We're still convincing these individuals to come forward and and file a formal complaint. And the problem is that unions cannot really assure people's safety back home, we can only assist them when they are in the country."
Many had sold their assets back home to pay for the role, and they were now desperate, and some were suicidal, said Maga.
He said some of the operators are recruiters overseas and know they are out of reach of New Zealand prosecution. Some New Zealand employers were complicit.
"These rogue employers are now sophisticated in the way they operate, so it's going to be hard for us to simply find out their wrongdoings if we focus on in New Zealand. We need to investigate the supply chain. We need actually to find out those countries where they are sending these people [from]."
He hoped the government will investigate the individual trafficking cases, but also take action on legislation to deal with modern slavery, which has already been adopted in many migrant destination countries. It allows regulators and prosecutors to hold employers responsible for migrant labour hire in their business and subcontractors.
"I think in the absence of legislation like modern slavery, it's going to be hard for us to stamp out this problem."
Employers - or at least ones not complicit in the trafficking or exploitation - could also act by ensuring their own recruitment practices were not flawed, he said.
Official action
The Human Rights Commission in August called for human trafficking legislation. It interviewed workers, advisers and advocates and said that some migrants caught up in accredited employer work visa (AEWV) scams were victims of trafficking.
"An immigration agent observed that many workers were being recruited for the profit of premiums, not for their labour. One worker said that a manager had been heard saying they were making $15,000 per new worker, and believed their dismissal was to facilitate further recruitment and payment of a premium."
Immigration New Zealand said it opened 112 investigations in the past financial year where there were indications of people trafficking.
"Some very common tactics that are used by people traffickers in New Zealand and globally include false job ads, threats of violence, grooming, withholding of passports, and those threats of violence can also include threats to their families offshore and onshore," said Compliance and investigations general manager Steve Watson.
"Also, threats to report them to Immigration New Zealand and have them deported if they were to to complain or go to the authorities about the activities of the offenders.
"The number of of exploitation or immigration offending cases has continued to rise steadily over the years. And many of those cases do have indicators of of trafficking or some of the elements of people trafficking."
Of the 112 investigation cases which had people trafficking indications, none resulted in prosecutions for trafficking. Less than half were still being investigated.
Of the 59 closed cases, 106 actions had been taken. "These include 12 education packs provided to the employers, two formal warning letters given, and four instances where accreditation was suspended or revoked. The rest are either referred to partnering agencies as no immigration offending was found, or there was insufficient evidence."
Victims of people trafficking can be referred to police to be certified, which can lead to a visa and access to other government services. Some offenders were instead prosecuted on non-trafficking charges because complaints did not meet the legal threshold for trafficking, or victims did not want to engage in a criminal court process, said Watson.
A pilot programme that has been run recently suggested trafficking investigations also helped with prevention and deterrence.
How we measure up
New Zealand is ranked at Tier 2 in the 2024 United States Trafficking in Persons Report, meaning the US determined that we were not fully compliant with its Trafficking Victims Protection Act, but were making significant efforts to do so.
The report said the government initiated fewer trafficking investigations and, for the fourth consecutive year, did not report prosecuting or convicting any traffickers for labour trafficking crimes.
"The Labour Inspectorate (LI) investigated forced labour complaints but worked mainly within the civil legal system, which may have contributed to the lack of criminal prosecution of forced labour crimes as authorities did not refer cases for criminal investigations.
"Immigration New Zealand's (INZ) serious offences unit investigated trafficking cases that involved immigration violations; however, according to some observers INZ has been reluctant to pursue trafficking charges and the agency did not consistently coordinate with prosecutors before deciding to pursue charges. LI and INZ reportedly did not always respond to or investigate complaints made by exploited migrant workers, and despite finalising a strategy in early 2021 to formalise their collaboration, the agencies reportedly did not effectively coordinate to investigate potential trafficking cases, according to one observer."
Watson said there had been greater investment in compliance and investigation staff, plus additional labour inspectors in the last three years.
"Government agencies, including Oranga Tamariki and police and MBIE, we're working together to try and understand what is happening in the people trafficking space and we have regular discussions around transnational organised crime and where we work together and share trends and information to help both prevent and investigate human trafficking.
"We need to work very closely with the Americans. It's a very complex issue, but we have a team here at MBIE who are dedicated full time to working on the trafficking in persons report, and there's a significantly greater work programme than just prosecutions that goes into that.
"And that includes our prevention activities and our cross government activities, which we're working very hard on, and we work very closely with the American authorities to become more compliant with their requirements."
Brooke van Velden said the government's priorities in her workplace relations portfolio were to improve the Holidays Act, reform health and safety law, increase certainty in contracting relationships, simplify the personal grievance process, and set performance measures and targets in regulatory systems.
"The future of the policy work programme on modern slavery supply chain legislation remains under consideration," she said, in a written statement. "However, new legislation is not required for businesses to undertake responsible supply chain practices, and many do so already.
"Government has tools and policies already in place to support these efforts, and to encourage businesses to address risks of modern slavery within their supply chains, including guidance on sustainable supply chains and procurement best practice on the Employment New Zealand website."
Definitions
- Exploitation - can include serious breaches/underpayments of wages and holiday pay, being forced to work long hours without breaks, being threatened or made to feel afraid.
- People (human) trafficking - the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person, using coercion or deception, for the purpose of exploitation
- Modern slavery - Walk Free estimated that in 2016 about 3,000 people in New Zealand were in conditions of modern slavery. Campaigners for legislation to prevent slavery and labour exploitation said they were relieved at the Labour government drafting legislation in 2023, but that the coalition announced the legislation was not a priority this year
- People smuggling - when someone arranges for a migrant to enter or be brought into another country for money
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