CEO of Finnish berry firm suspected of human trafficking

[webfact]

The berry picking industry in Finland heavily relies on a foreign workforce.

 

by Jeannette Hinrup

The CEO of Finnish berry company Polarica, Jukka Kristo, has been detained on the suspicion of human trafficking. The company has already brought around 1.000 berry pickers from Thailand to Finland this year.

 

According to Finnish broadcasting media Yle, The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Finnish Border Guard confirmed the criminal investigation on Monday.

 

Jukka Kristo organized the Thai berry pickers’ transit to Finland from Thailand, and it has been suspected that the workers “were in a dependency on their employer” and housed in poor conditions.

 

Full story: https://scandasia.com/ceo-of-finnish-berry-firm-suspected-of-human-trafficking/

 

-- © Copyright ScandAsia 2022-10-05

 

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[Baron Samedi]

Saw a documentary about that business once.

Disgusting. Those poor Thai guys are walking in the blizzard all day long to get those <deleted> wild berries. Wages are terrible.

Pure exploitation so rich <deleted> can get there marmalade on the cheap. Glad to see it's about to be dealt with.

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by metisdead
Profanity edited out.

[ezzra]

3 hours ago, Baron Samedi said:

Saw a documentary about that business once.

Disgusting. Those poor Thai guys are walking in the blizzard all day long to get those <deleted> wild berries. Wages are terrible.

Pure exploitation so rich <deleted> can get there marmalade on the cheap. Glad to see it's about to be dealt with.

 

Where is the Thai labour and foreign departments in all of this? or they too being hushed by some kind of a payola, as usual?...

[PJ71]

3 hours ago, Baron Samedi said:

Saw a documentary about that business once.

Disgusting. Those poor Thai guys are walking in the blizzard all day long to get those <deleted> wild berries. Wages are terrible.

Pure exploitation so rich <deleted> can get there marmalade on the cheap. Glad to see it's about to be dealt with.

 

But it must be better than what they can find in Thailand, right?

[placnx]

3 hours ago, Baron Samedi said:

Saw a documentary about that business once.

Disgusting. Those poor Thai guys are walking in the blizzard all day long to get those <deleted> wild berries. Wages are terrible.

Pure exploitation so rich <deleted> can get there marmalade on the cheap. Glad to see it's about to be dealt with.

 

There was a documentary on al Jazeera about Thai berry pickers in Sweden (currently not available online).

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/101-east/2021/5/6/swedens-thai-berry-pickers

[Aussieroaming]

I watched a documentary on this and the workers had to work pretty hard to make a profit after their expenses were paid. Some isaan villages had numerous people going each year.

 

Will the Thai authorities arrest the local Thai fixers as well, in order to close the human trafficking loop? Hahaha, somehow I think not.

[hotchilli]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Jukka Kristo organized the Thai berry pickers’ transit to Finland from Thailand, and it has been suspected that the workers “were in a dependency on their employer” and housed in poor conditions

Sounds strangely familiar.... migrant workers in Thailand living in "make-shift camps" 

or as in the Covid era locked inside work places.

[hotchilli]

14 hours ago, PJ71 said:

But it must be better than what they can find in Thailand, right?

True...Berry picking or a Thai fish farm?