Shortage of berry soup and yoghurt in Finland if Thai berry-pickers banned

[webfact]

 

Thai citizens make up a large part of the berry-pickers in Finland and the recent ban on visas for Thai berry-pickers can create a shortage in berry soup and yoghurt. In the previous summers Thai nationals made up 80-90 percent of the workforce and it can be difficult to replace the workers this harvest seasons.

 

Operations manager Birgitta Partanen at the industry organisation Arkiset Aromat said to the Finish media outlet yle, that the decision to ban visas for Thai national berry-pickers came as a shock to the industry and that they do not yet have a plan as to how to replace them.

 

According to yle, the industry expected for the old visa system to continue this year until a new permanent system is created. Birgitta Partanen says the industry is trying to hire domestic laborers to cover the vacant positions, but not enough are willing to take the jobs, as the pay is low by Finnish standards.

 

by Charlotte Nike Albrechtsen

 

Full story: ScandAsia 2024-03-23

 

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[flyingtlger]

Pay the berry pickers more!

[BayArea]

Who would have thought cheap Thai laborers were vital to Finland's berry industry. S. Korea's manufacturing or Israel's agriculture.  

 

Thailand has lots of problems,  chief among them is the lack of entry level job opportunities that can provide adequate pay for its citizens to survive without having to leave the country to look for low paying jobs elsewhere. 

[bkk6060]

Oh no, without their yogurt and soup what will these people do?

[spidermike007]

How is it possible for a nation to survive without berry flavored yogurt? This would truly be a catastrophe of historic proportions. 

[quake]

Looks like an opportunity for the UK to offload a few thousand of recently acquired useless people.

Now where is that dude Cameron.

[bamnutsak]

Like most Thais trafficked to other countries, which is often encouraged by the Thai government du jour, they are probably better off not going, be it Finland or Israel.

 

 

Thai berry pickers and Finnish justice

 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-berry-pickers-and-finnish-justice

 

 

 

Prosecutors to consider suspected human trafficking of Thai berry pickers

 

https://yle.fi/a/74-20062487

 

 

[jacko45k]

I come to see the berry not praise him! 

[Olmate]

Let Thai workers into Australia, my GF can pick fruit! 

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Thai citizens make up a large part of the berry-pickers in Finland and the recent ban on visas for Thai berry-pickers can create a shortage in berry soup and yoghurt. In the previous summers Thai nationals made up 80-90 percent of the workforce and it can be difficult to replace the workers this harvest seasons.

Get Finnish berry farmers to clean up their act.

[Classic Ray]

Usual greed from the labour suppliers and Finnish farmers.

 

Same problem, with Eastern European workers, existed in the East of England and they had to license and regulate the gang masters to control it. Brexit also had an effect making entry more difficult.

[bunnydrops]

In the US a couple of years back, many of the Hispanic families moved out. The workers were legal but many in their families were not. Then there was a labor shortage. Many of the fast food chains could not get workers for the $10 an hr, they were paying, so a wage war started, most went to $15, Panda Express went as high as $18. so they had to start paying more. Some were even giving out bonuses if they stayed on for 6 months. Even then many of the shops shortened their hours. The farmers couldn't get the field workers they needed because they could make more money doing easier work at the fast food shops. Now everyone wants to know why the price of food has gone up.

[Sydebolle]

a) the Thai government has not realized, that the problem is with them and those "agents" who skinned the workers alive - financially.
b) Keep the Thai government's fingers out of the cookie jar and let those applicants apply directly for visa etc. with the Finnish authorities (Embassy/Consulate). If they cannot speak sufficiently basic English, they will be lost in Finland anyway.
c) Hence maybe the Thai government, having meanwhile freed up human resources in their bureaucracy, might offer English classes to them on a free of charge basis
d) financing those English classes could be done with a submarine less and maybe you try to get all those native English teachers back which former governments threw out of Thailand

The Finns can hardly be shocked - that is just yet another but*ç%*t statement. There are plenty of English-speaking workers from the Philippines or India etc. available and have filled all those ranks, where Thais were leaving/missing (Middle East, North Africa etc.). 
In addition to that, they can get all those illegal migrants/asylum chancers to do the job, so do not over-estimate the importance of Thai labour on European soil.

Last but not least, berries have no influence on shortages of yogurts. Should certain berries be in "shortage", then you always have other producers more than happy to jump in. Until a generation ago, there were no berry yogurts on Asian shelves and ....... it was not only not the end of the world but people were happy with whatever their fields and orchards produced. Despite all this, when yogurts started to hit the Thai market some 40 years ago, I never came across an i.e. mango yogurt - which has nothing to do with Finland 😉 

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, quake said:

Now where is that dude Cameron.

 

He's been in Bangkok for an hour or two to agree visa-free access to the UK for Thais. Now they can do berry picking there after those who used to do it were outlawed after Brexit.

[Srikcir]

Thailand has been intercepting hundreds of trafficked migrants every year. Send them to Finland if Finland agrees to expense. 

[impulse]

Birgitta Partanen says the industry is trying to hire domestic laborers to cover the vacant positions, but not enough are willing to take the jobs, as the pay is low by Finnish standards.

 

I wonder what the labor component is of a cup of berry yoghurt?  Maybe a few cents?  Seems like a reasonable solution would be to increase wages to bring them in line for domestic workers, and charge a few pennies more for a cup of berry soup.

 

[Dcheech]

3 hours ago, Sydebolle said:

a) the Thai government has not realized, that the problem is with them and those "agents" who skinned the workers alive - financially.

 

Pretty sure the Thai government knows exactly who is responsible and that is why they confuse the issue with as much gibberish as they can. The media helps, like this confusing gibberish filled article above.  Sure their are evil Finnish berry farmers & Swedish blah blah blah. But the first skinning is the money these poor people must give the Thai recruiter, to get a job. A job that may or may not exist. Many of the poor, likely  get in hock with loan sharks and worse. That is where it starts and that is what needs to be stopped and that is why Thailand seems unable to do anything about it. 
 

These  Thais who take advantage of their fellow Thais seem to have an immunity, never prosecuted, rarely mentioned. 
 

[Sydebolle]

5 hours ago, Dcheech said:

 

Pretty sure the Thai government knows exactly who is responsible and that is why they confuse the issue with as much gibberish as they can. The media helps, like this confusing gibberish filled article above.  Sure their are evil Finnish berry farmers & Swedish blah blah blah. But the first skinning is the money these poor people must give the Thai recruiter, to get a job. A job that may or may not exist. Many of the poor, likely  get in hock with loan sharks and worse. That is where it starts and that is what needs to be stopped and that is why Thailand seems unable to do anything about it. 
 

These  Thais who take advantage of their fellow Thais seem to have an immunity, never prosecuted, rarely mentioned. 
 

My words exactly, the biggest problem of Thailand and its people is ...... their fellow citizen ...... Their country, their money, their disaster - how sad indeed. Everybody knows it but there has never been - so far - any action. Let's see what 2027 might bring after 2019 erased 6+ million votes and last year some 14+ million votes were disappeared by the dinosaurs! 

[Bday Prang]

load of rubbish