Source: Radio New Zealand
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon meets India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in March 2025. Piyal Bhattacharya / The Times of India via AFP
The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) says keeping unions and the public in the dark on the India-New Zealand Free Trade agreement means the deal risks enshrining exploitative labour conditions.
The deal will be formally signed on Monday night in New Delhi, with the full text expected to be made public on Tuesday.
CTU president Sandra Gray said there had been a complete lack of consultation with unions and the public.
A deal of this size warranted a tripartite approach from unions, business and government, she said.
“In this case, we have seen absolutely nothing. It’s being signed without unions even seeing the text, let alone contributing to the conversation.”
The Labour Party – whose support the government required to get the agreement through parliament – agreed to back the deal just days ago.
Asked if that was premature, given the CTU’s concerns about the deal’s contents, Gray reiterated the importance of including international labour standards in the agreement.
“I think we get very wound up in this idea that larger governments are going to walk away from free trade agreements with us if we don’t just get in and sign on the dotted line. I think we need to hold on to our sovereignty and say New Zealand needs to make sure it is acting ethically and rightly when it comes to workers’ rights.
“We’ve been really, really strong defenders of international law for decades and decades. We should not give up on that, and we should make sure that we use proper scrutiny of anything we sign and that includes unions being at the table.”
The organisation accepted the need for free trade agreements, but wanted confirmation international labour agreements were being adhered to, Gray said.
“My fear around this trade agreement because unions have not been involved is that we’re going to end up buying products and exchanging goods and doing free trade with really, really hostile work environments in India that really exploit workers.
“We don’t know, because we haven’t seen the agreement, but why are they hiding it from the public? Why are they hiding it from unions if it’s a good, fair trade agreement?”
The Maritime Services Union (MSU) last week called on the government to hold off signing the deal until it publicly released the text.
National Secretary Carl Findlay said the government’s secretive approach was an insult to workers.
He also raised concerns about 5000 temporary skilled work visas included in the deal, given high unemployment and infrastructure and housing deficits.
Sandra Gray said the CTU was less concerned about the temporary work visas than secrecy surrounding the deal, which made it impossible to know what labour standards had been agreed to.
Findlay’s comments came as New Zealand First minister Shane Jones made racist remarks on the deal’s immigration implications.
Gray would not be drawn on whether the MSU should be focused on the visa issue amid heightened xenophobic rhetoric.
“The Maritime Union has a stronger idea of what’s right for their members and for their union.”
Political parties should be cautious with their comments, Gray said, noting New Zealand First’s opposition was “built on a moment in time we have to be very careful not to get drawn into”.
“Government parties in particular need to pay real attention to the tone they’re setting for our country around migrants, immigrants and anyone who is coming to work here.”
Temporary migrant numbers ‘relatively small’
Immigration consultant Paul Janssen said New Zealand had agreements, that included visa programmes, with a number of countries and the figures in the India-New Zealand deal were comparatively low.
“In terms of the number of temporary migrants we bring in, it’s a relatively small number, given it’s 1667 per year, capped at 5000 for three years.
“That represents a small number of people and given the skill level they’re aiming for, I think it’s a drop in the bucket, really.”
The vast majority of the visas in the deal were for occupations on the Immigration New Zealand green list of in-demand, hard-to-fill roles, Janssen said.
An Indian government press release said the visas would be in “sectors of interest to India which include Indian iconic occupations (AYUSH practitioners, yoga instructors, Indian chefs and music teachers) and other sectors of interest – IT, Engineering, Healthcare, Education and Construction.”
AYUSH stands for traditional medical systems Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy.
The 1000 working holiday visas paled in comparison to other countries, such as the United Kingdom, which New Zealand offers 15,000 working holiday visas, or the 3000 places offered to young Koreans a year, Janssen said.
“This isn’t new – this is something we’ve done and do quite often, so it’s interesting we get different levels of commentary depending on which country we’re dealing with.”
He said Immigration NZ had rigourous processes.
“We go through quite a lot of work to make sure the people coming into the country are well vetted, so it isn’t simply submitting an application and away you go.
“There’s a lot that goes into the background, particularly when you’re looking at temporary visas where Immigration assesses the applicant’s genuine intent to come for a temporary purpose, whether they have the right skills – there’s a lot of hoops to jump through… and it isn’t a cheap exercise, there’s a lot of investment on the applicant’s part.”
New Zealand needed to recognise the added value and improved productivity provided by skilled migrants, he said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
