Finnish Berry picking boss sentenced to prison on charges of human trafficking of Thai workers

[webfact]

A photograph taken by police during the initial investigation showed some of the conditions the victims were forced to live under. Image: Sisä-Suomen poliisilaitos

 

by Gregers Møller

 

The Finnish Supreme Court has sentenced the head of a Central Finland berry picking firm to one year and ten months in prison on 26 charges of human trafficking involving Thai berry pickers, media HS writes.

 

The pickers traveled to Finland from Thailand to pick wild berries and mushrooms for about three months in 2016. The defendant accommodated the pickers in the town of Hankasalmi in Central Finland on premises where safety inspections had revealed safety deficiencies. The shipping containers and trailers where the workers lived were in such a condition that they could cause harm to health. 

 

During their time in Finland, the Thai berry pickers were forced to work 15-hour days for little or no pay, as their earnings went to pay off debts accrued from their journey to Finland. The pickers had to hand over their passports and plane tickets to the staff and were not guided well enough in carrying out their tasks and therefore did not collect enough berries, which resulted in lower wages.

 

Full story: https://scandasia.com/finnish-berry-picking-boss-sentenced-to-prison-on-charges-of-human-trafficking-of-thai-workers/

 

-- © Copyright ScandAsia 2022-01-31

 

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[mackayae]

Finland is typically voted the best country  and also the freest country. Not so, for these folks.

[arithai12]

Summer of 1982, I spent 2 months in a farm in central Finland doing just that. I had a fantastic time, I loved the country, the people, the experience. I was sleeping in a wooden shack, happy as a clam. Learned to drive a tractor, to speak some language, found some romance...

So sad that these workers have been so mistreated, at least I hope some justice - also economical - will come to them.

[tonray]

It's great that this guy gets his due...but have you seen worker housing in Thailand ? Perhaps should be a wakeup call to clean up treatment of immigrant workers here too,

[jacko45k]

25 minutes ago, tonray said:

It's great that this guy gets his due...but have you seen worker housing in Thailand ? Perhaps should be a wakeup call to clean up treatment of immigrant workers here too,

Yes, they get dumped on the highway when they find Covid and are herded about crammed dangerously in pick-ups like transported livestock....pot, kettle I believe. 

[steven100]

This is what happens when Thai workers venture overseas for greener pastures ...... if Thailand was serious about human trafficking and abuse they could easily set up a watchdog that inspects these places from time to time,  that would be one way of stopping the labor abuse. 

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

During their time in Finland, the Thai berry pickers were forced to work 15-hour days for little or no pay, as their earnings went to pay off debts accrued from their journey to Finland. The pickers had to hand over their passports and plane tickets to the staff and were not guided well enough in carrying out their tasks and therefore did not collect enough berries, which resulted in lower wages.

Sounds akin to the Thai fishing industry either afloat or processing plant.

[hotchilli]

32 minutes ago, steven100 said:

This is what happens when Thai workers venture overseas for greener pastures ...... if Thailand was serious about human trafficking and abuse they could easily set up a watchdog that inspects these places from time to time,  that would be one way of stopping the labor abuse. 

What about migrant slave labour in Thailand?

Clean up the back-yard first

[Sydebolle]

Co-incidentially I know of people who looked forward each and every year to return back to Scandinavia for the berry-picking season. They all were properly and very nicely treated, the employers fulfilled their part of the deal and all is good. 

The picture shown proves a mess, which is self-inflicted by the tenants. The infrastructure though looks much "better" than what I've seen how Cambodians and Burmese were treated and kept in Thai dungeons. Latter does not excuse eventual wrong-doings in Finland but the Finnish authorities addressed and dealt with the problem and will keep a weather-lifting eye in the future. So, maybe to balance the reporting, why not pick-up problems "closer to home" like how (il-)legal immigrants from neighbouring countries are dealt with while doing jobs which no Thai would even touch. Something along the "kettle and pot" line .......... 

[Adiudon]

My Thai girlfriends sister and her husband went there in 2016 for 3 months, picking cranberries I think, they liked it. They stayed in a nice log cabin that was used as a holiday home during the winter months, they did work long long hours, but earned enough money in 3 months to keep them when home for 9 months.

I guess they were the lucky ones.

[RJRS1301]

Seeing as this occurred in Finland, a country which actually prosecuted the offender, and the workers received their payments (we hope) after the court case.

How will this affect the current trade in humans the PM is negotiating with the Saudis, who have a poor human rights record. 

[robblok]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Yes, they get dumped on the highway when they find Covid and are herded about crammed dangerously in pick-ups like transported livestock....pot, kettle I believe. 

Pot kettle, not really but then again some people need to defend fellow foreigners.

 

The people who are exploited in both cases are workers, migrant workers. The people who exploit the migrant workers in Thailand are not the workers like those who went to Finland to work but higher ups. So if you in some way want to equate the Thais that were exploited with those who exploit migrant workers in Thailand your way off base as they are from totally different backgrounds and wealth.

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, robblok said:

Pot kettle, not really but then again some people need to defend fellow foreigners.

 

The people who are exploited in both cases are workers, migrant workers. The people who exploit the migrant workers in Thailand are not the workers like those who went to Finland to work but higher ups. So if you in some way want to equate the Thais that were exploited with those who exploit migrant workers in Thailand your way off base as they are from totally different backgrounds and wealth.

Disagree.....seen some poor examples here in Thailand with foreign construction site workers and fishermen..... exploitation is exactly that and Thailand does it too. 

I have no affiliation with Finnish people whatsoever... but Finland gets a few bonus points because they did do something about it... 

'Higher up' is completely irrelevant, even if that was true.  My gardener once turned up with some Cambodians to help him..... 

[robblok]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

Disagree.....seen some poor examples here in Thailand with foreign construction site workers and fishermen..... exploitation is exactly that and Thailand does it too. 

I have no affiliation with Finnish people whatsoever... but Finland gets a few bonus points because they did do something about it... 

'Higher up' is completely irrelevant, even if that was true.  My gardener once turned up with some Cambodians to help him..... 

You are missing the point that i made. The point is that both the Thai that were exploited by the Fin and the migrants you describe are being exploited by the more high up kind of people. The Thais exploiting the migrants in Thailand are not in the same socio economic class as those Thais that were abused.

 

Point being that you can't downplay it as these exploited Thais are not the group of people that exploit migrants in Thailand. So both are victims or richer more powerful people. Please keep that in mind. Turning up with some Cambodians is not the same as exploiting them. 

[jacko45k]

12 minutes ago, robblok said:

You are missing the point that i made. The point is that both the Thai that were exploited by the Fin and the migrants you describe are being exploited by the more high up kind of people. The Thais exploiting the migrants in Thailand are not in the same socio economic class as those Thais that were abused.

 

Point being that you can't downplay it as these exploited Thais are not the group of people that exploit migrants in Thailand. So both are victims or richer more powerful people. Please keep that in mind. Turning up with some Cambodians is not the same as exploiting them. 

And I still am, I do not see the relevance of what you say. Please stop wasting my time. 

[robblok]

2 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

And I still am, I do not see the relevance of what you say. Please stop wasting my time. 

Nobody makes you respond, your wasting your time yourself. 

[jacko45k]

Just now, robblok said:

Nobody makes you respond, your wasting your time yourself. 

[nahkit]

2 hours ago, robblok said:

The point is that both the Thai that were exploited by the Fin and the migrants you describe are being exploited by the more high up kind of people.

So both groups were being exploited by people with more power than them?

 

Jacko45k isn't the only one who doesn't understand the point you are trying to make.

[digger70]

There's Good and Bad people in every country ,It's good that they have  put that bad one away for a while .

Now Thailand should do same with the Bad ones here who Employ /enslave foreign workers.

[robblok]

21 minutes ago, nahkit said:

So both groups were being exploited by people with more power than them?

 

Jacko45k isn't the only one who doesn't understand the point you are trying to make.

My point was that i felt he and others were using the abuse of foreign migrants in Thailand to justify the abuse of those Thais.

 

My point was that both of the groups that were abused were abused by with higher status. So the comparison and justification would only work if those who were abused by the fins were the same people (same socio economic group) as those who did the abusing in Thailand and that is not the case.

 

Its just the poor lower class who will always be abused and to justify that by saying that migrants are treated worse in Thailand is just wrong as those who doing the abusing might be Thais but of a whole different socio economic class. So to see this as payback or justification is just wrong as those who get hurt are not the bad guys. Others are.

[tomacht8]

The problem are the dubious agents here in Thailand. Very few workers have the know-how to obtain the necessary papers (visa, work permit) and to finance their trip in advance. This then leads to slave-like conditions. This is not only the case with the berry pickers, but also with the "masseuses" who work in Korea and with many workers in Arab countries.

Edited January 31, 2022 by tomacht8

[tomacht8]

4 hours ago, steven100 said:

This is what happens when Thai workers venture overseas for greener pastures ...... if Thailand was serious about human trafficking and abuse they could easily set up a watchdog that inspects these places from time to time,  that would be one way of stopping the labor abuse. 

Nice words. However, this does not fit with Thailand's efforts to ban Amnesty International from Thailand.

[Mr Meeseeks]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

A photograph taken by police during the initial investigation showed some of the conditions the victims were forced to live under.

Looks very similar to most Thai living accommodations. ????

Edited January 31, 2022 by Mr Meeseeks

[SteveAZ]

“During their time in Finland, the Thai berry pickers were forced to work 15-hour days for little or no pay, as their earnings went to pay off debts accrued from their journey to Finland.” one month prison for each change sounds more just. Plus pay all the worker’s with interest. 

[RJRS1301]

46 minutes ago, SteveAZ said:

“During their time in Finland, the Thai berry pickers were forced to work 15-hour days for little or no pay, as their earnings went to pay off debts accrued from their journey to Finland.” one month prison for each change sounds more just. Plus pay all the worker’s with interest. 

and forfiet 50% of future profits his farm to the homeless and refugees

 

[2 is 1]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

The Finnish Supreme Court has sentenced the head of a Central Finland berry picking firm to one year and ten months in prison on 26 charges of human trafficking involving Thai berry pickers, media HS writes.

Actually he get 1 year prison sentence and coz he is first timer he have to be in prison 6 month. After that he is in parole.

And i think Thai's get they minumum salary coz they had contract whit A hole so wage security office pay the salary and then get it back to them from A hole.

Berry picking is hard work so sad that some A holes try to use people to they own benefit!

 

[Eric Loh]

9 hours ago, tonray said:

It's great that this guy gets his due...but have you seen worker housing in Thailand ? Perhaps should be a wakeup call to clean up treatment of immigrant workers here too,

Yes great to see this guy gets his due. Both countries need to clean up the treatment of immigrant workers. More of an embarrassment for Finland being a developed country and 3rd best country in adhering to the rule of law in the world. 

[Adumbration]

9 hours ago, steven100 said:

This is what happens when Thai workers venture overseas for greener pastures ...... if Thailand was serious about human trafficking and abuse they could easily set up a watchdog that inspects these places from time to time,  that would be one way of stopping the labor abuse. 

If Thailand was serious....Pfffft.

 

If Thailand was serious they would try to provide jobs with a reasonable wage here at home so people did not have to leave for work.

 

My girl has seven brothers and 1 sister.  All of them are currently overseas working farm and laboring jobs.  Her sister is working in Korea.  Has been there for 5 years now on expired tourist visa.  She was fully vaccinated with Pfizer long before we were here in LOS.

[steven100]

35 minutes ago, Adumbration said:

If Thailand was serious....Pfffft.

 

If Thailand was serious they would try to provide jobs with a reasonable wage here at home so people did not have to leave for work.

 

My girl has seven brothers and 1 sister.  All of them are currently overseas working farm and laboring jobs.  Her sister is working in Korea.  Has been there for 5 years now on expired tourist visa.  She was fully vaccinated with Pfizer long before we were here in LOS.

well that's great    !     but people from all countries go overseas for a better wage ,  I did ...  it's got nothing to do with Thailand putting the wages up to match overseas jobs,  no country will do that.  It's all relative to the local minimum wage, eg;  living costs, electricity, food etc ......  so your comment doesn't hold water.  Her sister is in Korea because it's a higher wage and she can send money home, as what most do.  As for her being vaccinated before Thailand, well good for her.

[The Hammer2021]

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jan/30/fruit-pickers-lured-to-portugal-by-the-dream-of-a-raspberry-passport