The Recognised Seasonal Employer Policy in Northland: 'success' in a regional RSE economy

Abstract

The Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) policy is a seasonal labour migration scheme which allows the poorest citizens of five Pacific Island states temporary access to the labour markets of New Zealand‟s horticulture and viticulture industries. The scheme was introduced in 2007 to provide additional seasonal labour to supplement exhausted domestic supplies. It was also designed to increase national production and maximise productive capacities in New Zealand‟s horticulture and viticulture industries with a view to increasing exports from these industries. It was anticipated that the expansion of these industries would generate new jobs for New Zealanders. The RSE policy was introduced as part of New Zealand‟s development commitments in the Pacific region. It is intended to facilitate remittance driven development at the household and community levels in participating Pacific Island states. This thesis examines the interplay of the practices and connections at the heart of the RSE economy in Northland. Adopting a relational approach, this research strives to identify the narratives of success integral to the performation and continued existence of the RSE. It explores the RSE as an emergent economic space and moral economy and highlights the role of narratives of success in sustaining this space. In order to achieve this, primary research was conducted at all seven RSE accredited firms in Northland and with government officials integral to the framing and regulation of the RSE. This thesis argues that the RSE economy is a complex, unbounded, continuous, emergent space which needs to be performed and re-performed to prolong its survival. At its core the RSE economy is based on the temporary movement of under-employed labour from developing Pacific states to horticultural regions in New Zealand to enhance the economic productivity of growers. Pacific communities provide pools of labour and workers have tightly prescribed and circumscribed rights, but Pacific worker communities and nations gain access to income generation opportunities. This involves a complex moral economy. Engagements with the RSE in the field and in the literature reveal that this economy is mediated and legitimised by narratives of success. Pressing governmental times add to the vulnerability of the RSE economy. The challenge is to sustain the scheme and ensure it works for the Pacific workers, which I argue involves working within the frames of these narratives of success to expand their scope and ensure that realities match theories.