A lack of awareness and enforcement of workers’ rights We heard stories of times when Pacific workers have had their rights breached and of the need for greater understanding and awareness of what their rights are. The main themes we heard in this area were: • many Pacific workers are not aware of their employment rights • the impact of COVID-19 on workers’ rights • education about employment rights. Many Pacific workers are not aware of their employment rights Several Pacific workers shared stories of not being aware of their employment rights in the workplace, which effectively contributed to their experiences of the pay gap. Most of these stories were shared by Pacific workers in the agriculture and forestry sectors in the regions, which included Nelson and Gisborne, and they were predominantly male. Many Pacific workers in these industries are on working visas tied to their employer or are new migrants to Aotearoa New Zealand. Some are part of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme, a government initiative aimed at meeting labour shortages in the horticulture and viticulture industries. We did not focus on RSE workers in this Inquiry, although the Commission has done some work alongside the Inquiry on the RSE scheme. There were a few stories shared about lack of awareness of employment rights by Pacific workers in other sectors. This was particularly the case for the construction sector in which some employers have a high number of undocumented workers. These situations mean that many of the Pacific workers entering employment in Aotearoa New Zealand are not necessarily educated on their employment rights. This was evident in the stories shared by workers whose work visa was tied to their employer. They had limited to no knowledge of their rights to annual and sick leave, holiday pay, health and safety practices, rights as an employee versus a 54 contractor and in particular their rights when it came to their wages. One participant in our talanoa who advocates for RSE workers in his region said: People were not educated about their pay so people don’t speak up. There’s no proper understanding of what is going on. (T005) This lack of understanding around leave and pay extended into other sectors. A Pacific worker in the NGO sector told us “I would like … to grasp and get more understanding of how leave and stuff work within a salary basis” (T007). When asked by our team to expand further, the participant advised that she needed understanding on “how it all works”. In addition to the barriers around the lack of awareness of workers’ rights, various Pacific peoples shared barriers to articulating their rights. What we noticed in these stories is that some Pacific workers have a sense that something unfair has happened when their rights are being breached but they do not have the knowledge and understanding of what their rights are in a particular situation. As a result of this limited knowledge, Pacific workers lack the confidence to articulate and enforce their rights. This was the case for a group of Pacific workers who told us: We don’t have the confidence to go out and better ourself and speak for ourself. If we don’t know what our rights are, we are going to be taken for granted forever. (T008) The impact of COVID-19 on workers’ rights One situation where various Pacific workers experienced a lack of awareness around their rights was during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly regarding sick leave. Many Pacific workers shared being told by their employer that annual leave would be deducted once their sick leave was exhausted.