The Samoa Government has published details of changes to its labour mobility policies which will now give priority to people who've been unemployed for up to six months.

Details of the policy changes were released in a statement issued by the Press Secretariat on Thursday that outlined changes to the Recognised Seasonal Employment Policies and Strategies. 

The Cabinet approved the amendments, which “are designed to strengthen the Seasonal Employment initiatives which are benefiting thousands of local families year-in and year-out”, according to the statement. 

The changes include increasing safe and secure employment opportunities for Samoans who are most vulnerable and prioritising the mobilisation of persons who have been unemployed for more than 6 months. 

In terms of the vetting process, the District Council Committee has now been tasked to be involved in the recruitment of candidates for the scheme. 

According to the statement, this will ensure that labour mobility opportunities are equally distributed amongst the whole of Samoa through the District Council Committees. 

In order to protect the workers the Government has put in place policies to guarantee their work is appropriately compensated and made amendments to enhance the safety of workers while overseas. 

The Seasonal Employment Unit – which previously came under the umbrella of the Ministry of Commerce Industry and Labour (M.C.I.L.) – has been moved out to be an additional division under the Ministry of Finance (M.O.F.).  

The M.O.F. will now be the centralised Government agency that will deal with registration and oversight of all private recruiters, employer companies or contractors and workers. 

The media release from the Press Secretariat did not disclose the various fees that were revealed by a Cabinet Minister to this newspaper targeting agents and foreign employers to avoid workers forking out excessive costs. 

The statement said the changes include regulating the operations of “private recruiters to ensure equitable and transparent recruitment process and avoiding unethical practices where workers are subject to excessive up-front costs or recruitment fees and recruiting from other districts”.

“To strengthen oversight of the schemes, all approved employers wishing to recruit from Samoa must first inform the Government (MCIL-LEEP) of its intentions.

“To assess the level of obligation on approved employers related to costs of recruitment and mobilization including travel, wage deductions, and pastoral care/housing/utilities.” 

The Government said such changes will commit all individual employers and contractors to properly engage in negotiating fair contractual arrangements to include benefits and all other conditions of employment prior to departure.

In a recent interview with the Minister of Public Enterprises, Leatinuu Wayne So'oialo, he said new fees include registration of SAT$10,000 from agents that intend to recruit locals under the scheme. 

In addition, employers can no longer go directly to villages to recruit their workers, they have to pay an annual registration fee of SAT$1,000 under the policy implemented by M.O.F. The District Council Committee also have to pay a fee of SAT$1000 for registration if they want to have people from their district recruited.

The seasonal employment programs include the R.S.E. in New Zealand, Australia's Pacific Labour Scheme (P.L.S.) and Seasonal Workers Program (S.W.P.) and the Pacific Trade Partnership (P.T.P.) in New Zealand.