Worker stories

A Pacific fisheries observer who never came home

A fisheries observer from Kiribati was found dead in his cabin on a Taiwanese purse seiner in March 2020, and Kiribati police investigated the death as a homicide. Observers who spoke to RNZ Pacific said safety equipment, such as two-way communication devices, often does not reach them, and that they fear intimidation when they report what they see. RNZ reported that ten observers are known to have died at sea in the Pacific since 2010.

"We find it not safe." — A Pacific fisheries observer, speaking anonymously to RNZ Pacific

Source: RNZ Pacific, 13 July 2020. Read the original

Fijian and Indonesian crew tell their own stories

Sixteen Fijian and ten Indonesian men who had worked as crew on distant-water fishing vessels wrote or recorded their own accounts, supported by the Human Dignity Group in Fiji and the Indonesian migrant workers' union SBMI. They describe unpaid wages, injuries and long-term health problems, violence on board, and little remedy afterwards. One Fijian fisher said he was put off his vessel in Samoa after an injury and the company did not compensate him.

"I would not want to see anyone limp around like me." — A Fijian fisherman, quoted in the report

Source: Winrock International, with La Trobe University (Valuing Victims Voices report), 2022. Read the original

Unpaid for a year at sea, crew walk off in Fiji

This report collects cases of abuse and deaths on fishing vessels in the Pacific. In one, eight crew who had left a tuna longliner went to the Indonesian Embassy in Fiji in October 2015, saying they had not been paid for the twelve months they had been at sea. The report says the Embassy helped 100 crew in 85 incidents during 2015, including unpaid wages, beatings, sickness and injury, and crew left stranded.

Source: Human Rights at Sea (Fisheries abuses and related deaths at sea in the Pacific region), 1 December 2017. Read the original

Working up to 34 hours straight on a longliner

Greenpeace East Asia interviewed Indonesian migrant fishers who had worked on vessels flagged to or linked with Taiwan, and checked their contracts and payslips. The fishers described excessive overtime, withheld wages and identity documents kept by others, which are among the ILO's indicators of forced labour. The vessels in this investigation were in the Atlantic Ocean, not the Pacific.

"We only got to sleep for five hours if and when we caught some fish." — An Indonesian fisher on a Taiwanese longliner, quoted by Greenpeace East Asia

Source: Greenpeace East Asia (Choppy Waters report, press release), 19 March 2020. Read the original

$100 for a week's work after deductions

A Victorian strawberry grower told an Australian Senate committee that a Samoan seasonal worker earned A$937.20 for one week, but took home $100 after the labour hire firm's deductions and tax. The firm said the deductions covered airfares, visas, accommodation, transport and health insurance. Two Samoan workers told the committee they felt punished for giving evidence.

"I'm not worried about that, all I want is justice." — Talipope, Samoan seasonal worker, giving evidence to the Senate committee (as reported by ABC News)

Source: ABC News, 10 March 2022. Read the original

Leaving the scheme and losing everything

A worker from Papua New Guinea came to Tasmania under PALM in 2022 and said he was left with $200–$300 a week after paying for shared accommodation and transport. After he left his employer, a labour hire firm later investigated by the Fair Work Ombudsman, he lost his visa, slept in parks and churches, and was tricked into paying for a fake visa. He was later supported through a federal program for people affected by trafficking.

"Please, I need help." — A former PALM worker from Papua New Guinea (ABC News)

Source: ABC News, 23 September 2024. Read the original

Why PALM workers are walking away

The ABC reported that an estimated 7,200 PALM workers have left their employers. A university study, based partly on interviews with 30 of them, found many left because of underpayment, low hours and large deductions for travel and accommodation. A worker from Solomon Islands said he took home $300–$400 a week after deductions, too little to support his family.

"When I received this sum of money, it was like a pain in my body." — A former PALM worker from Solomon Islands (ABC News)

Source: ABC News, 5 December 2025. Read the original

RSE deductions cut pay to zero, workers say

A group of RSE workers from Solomon Islands took their former New Zealand employer to court after deductions for travel, insurance, wet-weather gear and storage reduced their pay to zero in some weeks. The employer denied breaking the law or the workers' agreements. The same report found only two of New Zealand's 81 labour inspectors worked full-time on the RSE scheme.

"People are frightened to speak up" — Richard Wagstaff, President of the NZ Council of Trade Unions (RNZ)

Source: RNZ, 26 August 2024. Read the original

Six minutes to shower: workers speak out in Port Vila

At a Pacific Islands Council of Trade Unions workshop in Port Vila, workers who had been on PALM and RSE described being charged for bedding and damaged items, overcrowded housing, and men and women sometimes sharing rooms and bathrooms. Several women said they were first given three minutes to shower, raised to six after they complained. Samoa First Union said some unexplained accommodation deductions only came to light when workers showed their payslips to the union.

Source: FBC News (Fiji), 27 August 2026. Read the original

Fijian domestic workers in Tonga describe 18-hour days

An ABC investigation, reported by Talanoa o Tonga, heard from Fijian workers recruited to Tonga with promises of steady domestic work. Some said they were underpaid, isolated and pressured to accept poor conditions; one woman said she worked 18 hours a day for four years, with a break only for church on Sundays. A Fijian workers' advocate in Tonga said written contracts have largely been replaced by verbal agreements.

"I almost ran away because too much work." — A Fijian domestic worker in Tonga, speaking to ABC's The Pacific (as reported by Talanoa o Tonga)

Source: Talanoa o Tonga, reporting an ABC The Pacific investigation, 7 April 2025. Read the original

Housemaids and nannies 'hoodwinked' across Polynesia

The Fiji Sun looked at Fijians working in Tonga, Samoa and the Cook Islands, many of them women employed as housemaids, babysitters and housekeepers, often recruited through family and friends rather than agencies. Workers and community leaders described reduced wages, long hours without extra pay, visas never arranged, and passports taken by employers. The paper reported that for some, the only way out was to return to Fiji, even if it meant giving up their savings.

"Members work longer hours without extra pay and they even cut weekly wages without any reason." — Iliesa Tora, president of the Tonga Fijian Association (Fiji Sun)

Source: Fiji Sun, 17 May 2021. Read the original

A domestic worker who helps others know their rights

A woman from Myanmar who has worked as a domestic worker in Thailand for 19 years began organising meetings to share information on labour law, minimum wage, working hours, leave and the right to keep your own documents. Her peer network supports domestic workers facing violence, and helped one survivor get medical and legal help and a new employer with a standard contract.

"But that is not luck; it is my right." — Nan Zar Ni Myint, domestic worker and peer-network volunteer (ILO)

Source: ILO (first published by UN Women), 11 March 2021. Read the original

Recruitment debts and confiscated documents

Amnesty International interviewed 97 Indonesian women who had migrated to Hong Kong as domestic workers. Many had been misled about jobs and fees, had their documents held by recruitment agencies until debts were paid, and in Hong Kong faced underpayment, too little rest and, in some cases, abuse. Amnesty said both the Indonesian and Hong Kong governments were failing to protect them.

Source: Amnesty International, 21 November 2013. Read the original