urbanisation) has led to scarce local rural labour.226 To meet labour demands and simultaneously generate profit, there has been an increasing shift in the utilisation of migrant workers because they are seen as a flexible, cheap answer to meet labour demands – or as a “tap that can easily be turned on and off”.227 Migrant workers can be brought to work on flexible terms that allow producers to “exercise some degree of control” over profit and allow the continuing accumulation of capital in the market.228 This model of production applies to the RSE scheme.229 While the RSE scheme has been praised as a programme guaranteeing a “triple win” for Pacific workers in the scheme, Pacific nations sending their workers and New Zealand’s economy, the operation of the scheme in practice has seen these “wins” for Pacific workers and Pacific nations undermined by 32 its underlying economic logic.230 The RSE scheme has also been found to offer limited opportunities for skill development and training for its Pacific workers.231 The RSE scheme recently gained national attention during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak when New Zealanders became aware of how little RSE workers are paid and what it cost RSE workers to live here.232 Closed borders resulted in a labour shortage for New Zealand’s primary industries and also meant that some RSE scheme workers became stranded in New Zealand. This created a political climate where New Zealanders were prepared to hear grievances about what had previously been understood as a successful programme. Workers brought to light poor living conditions, abusive employers and paternalistic approaches to employment.233 Tuiburelevu and Wagner-Hiliau’s careful analysis of blackbirding in the early 19th and 20th centuries 226 Bedford, Charlotte. “Picking Winners? New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Policy and its Impacts on Employers, Pacific Workers and Their Island-Based Communities.” PhD Thesis, University of Waikato, 2013, 69. 227 Hennebry, Jenna. “Permanently Temporary? Agricultural Migrant Workers and Their Integration in Canada.” Institute for Research on Public Policy Study 26 (2012): 4. 228 Preibisch, Kerry. “Pick-Your-Own-Labor: Migrant Workers and Flexibility in Canadian Agriculture.” The International Migration Review 44, no. 2 (Summer 2010): 404. 229 Hao’uli, Ema. “ Hao’uli, Ema. “Triple WinsWins or Trojan Horse?: Examining the Recognised Seasonal Employer Scheme UnderUnder a TWAILTWAIL Lens.”.” The New Zealand Yearbook of International Law, 11 (2013): 185-190. 230 Hao’uli, “Triple Wins or Trojan Horse?,” 183, 208. 231 Perkiss, Stephanie, Tautalaaso Taule’alo, Olivia Dun, Natascha Klocker, Asenati Liki, and Farzana Tanima. “Exploring Accountability of Australia and New Zealand’s Temporary Labour Mobility Programmes in Samoa Using a Talanoa Approach.” Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal (2021): 21. 232 Hanly, Lillian. “Living Wage Guarantee for RSE Workers in Border Exemption.” Radio New Zealand, November 30, 2020. https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/431752/living-wage-guarantee-for-rse-workers-in-border-exemption. 233 Wall, Tony.“Lockdown for Profit.” Stuff, October, 2020. https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2020/10/rse-migrant-workers-scheme/.