BALI SENDS 139 FRUIT PICKERS TO NEW ZEALAND

Denpasar May 12 (ANTARA) - Bali has sent 139 fruit pickers to New Zealand under the contract system for six months.

"The dispatch of the Balinese fruit pickers is carried out in two batches respectively consisting of 72 and 67 workers and will be employed in New Zealand until September 2009," Head of the Bali provincial manpower, transmigration and population affairs agency Anak Agung Gede Anom told the press here Tuesday.

He said the sending of the seasonable workers in the fruit harvest in New Zealand had the approval of the Minister of Manpower.

Under the contract, for every hour of eight hours of work every day each of the workers will receive 117 New Zealand dollars, in addition to pay for overtime work which is more than the normal working hours work.

Agung Anom said that each worker will bring home at least a net
Rp35 million for the six months of fruit picking.

"This is the first time that Bali sent black collar workers to New Zealand, and interest was huge," Agung Anom said.

In the past Bali sent only white-collar workers in the tourism sector in New Zealand.

***2***