Thai Berry Pickers In Sweden Head Home Empty Handed

[webfact]

Thai Berry Pickers Head Home Empty Handed

Around 135 Thai berry pickers left Åsele in Sweden's north on Saturday evening to return to Thailand empty handed after the owners of their employer, Lömjsö Bär, allegedly emptied the firm of cash and fled.

The majority of the 160 Thai people who have spent the past two months working for the firm have decided to give up their fight to be paid for their work, having received only 6,000 kronor ($894).

"38 Thais have chosen to stay to try to get their salaries," said Dan Andersson at Umeå police on Saturday evening.

When back in Thailand the berry pickers face an uncertain future, with many having borrowed substantial sums to travel to Sweden for the season.

"They are in dire straits. The embassy is seeing to it that they get home but they have been fooled out of everything they own," said interpreter Tomas Hasser to local newspaper Västerbottens Kuriren.

The atmosphere among the berry pickers became heated at times with police in attendance.

Most of the berry pickers will fly out to Thailand on Sunday, while the remaining few are booked on flights on October 11th.

The CEO of Lömsjö Bär AB, Ari Hallikanen, is meanwhile suspected of financial crimes after having allegedly emptied the firm of its cash and fled Sweden. No official criminal investigation has however yet been opened against him or chairperson Olle Andersson regarding Åsele.

Hallikanen has a series of bankruptcies behind him, and in 2007 faced charges of assault involving berry pickers in Hälsingland.

Lömsjö Bär was the firm which was involved in a highly publicised fight in Särna in the summer involving Vietnamese berry pickers. The argument led to the arrest of several berry pickers after they locked in their supervisors.

Source: http://www.scandasia.com/viewNews.php?news_id=7402&coun_code=se

SCANDASIA

-- 2010-10-04

[MTH]

Thought I saw this report earlier today on Thaivisa. Either way it looks like the head honcho in Sweden emptied the salary account of about 17 M baht and have not been seen since.

Leaving about 160 Thai workers stranded without pay and means to get back home.

Hope they get the bastard...

Edited October 4, 2010 by MTH

[napalm]

Thought I saw this report earlier today on Thaivisa. Either way it looks like the head honcho in Sweden emptied the salary account of about 17 M baht and have not been seen since.

Leaving about 160 Thai workers stranded without pay and means to get back home.

Hope they get the bastard...

Wow, Thais getting screwed by a Farang in a foreign country. Hey, wait a minute, shouldn't it be the other way around ?

[overhaul38]

Shocking. Maybe workers should ask for their pay in advance or at least held in escrow.

[ukinbkk]

What a turn around.. They should give this guy a medal of the highest order.. Like the earlier post said "thais getting screwed by farang, unheard of". Look what happens in thailand everyday we get screwed over in every sector, it's so refreshing to read a story like this and see the boot on the other foot.

Maybe if this did happen more often thais might treat us fairly, equally, the same same, that's all I ask.. Very good story, maybe a leson for the thai people.. :jap:

[KireB]

What a turn around.. They should give this guy a medal of the highest order.. Like the earlier post said "thais getting screwed by farang, unheard of". Look what happens in thailand everyday we get screwed over in every sector, it's so refreshing to read a story like this and see the boot on the other foot.

Maybe if this did happen more often thais might treat us fairly, equally, the same same, that's all I ask.. Very good story, maybe a leson for the thai people.. :jap:

What a pathetic answer. These people worked hard for their money and you want to give a medal to the guy who ripped them off!. You must have a miserable life, having thoughts like this!

[scotinsiam]

What a turn around.. They should give this guy a medal of the highest order.. Like the earlier post said "thais getting screwed by farang, unheard of". Look what happens in thailand everyday we get screwed over in every sector, it's so refreshing to read a story like this and see the boot on the other foot.

Maybe if this did happen more often thais might treat us fairly, equally, the same same, that's all I ask.. Very good story, maybe a leson for the thai people.. :jap:

pathetic response - maybe Thai hookers and pimps in seedy towns do rip off Farangs, but you can't really equate them to people who have travelled 1000s of miles to work to feed their family back home in Thailand.

[asiawatcher]

Shocking. Maybe workers should ask for their pay in advance or at least held in escrow.

Hardly - do you pay up front ? Have you ever used Escrow services ? A more sensible comment would be to assess if they had received reimbursement for airfares which by the report they would not but also this is the same thing that happens to Thai people in Dubai - they pay their own way across and work in appalling conditions as indentured labour and get paid only when they finish in a lot of instances and can work a year with only meagre food and terrible accommodation provided and no-one does anything about it.

Not against this post but It appalls me why Farang constantly throw off at Thai's being the rip off merchants when is fact it happens in all society. It is just more open here and mainly in a minority. Here we have Thai workers willing to spend, travel and pay to be able to earn for their families as they can't get decent paid work here. Then they get ripped off and these are the low end of Thai society not the hi-so scammers. These are poor people/workers willing to risk what they have for work. It saddens me to read this but again, looking at this guy walking with 17M Baht? That won't buy much in Sweden for very long and the fool risks jail for 500,000USD? Not a pro by any means.

[MTH]

Shocking. Maybe workers should ask for their pay in advance or at least held in escrow.

Yes, escrow is a great concept. As I understand it, this is what they’ve recently done in Finland.

Quite a few berry pickers had previously been scammed over there as well, and they’ve now done something about it.

However there are still no such laws in Sweden. And until there are, we will keep reading about these poor souls, that are stranded without pay, no means to get home, and in debt for taking the journey over there.

[jayjay0]

What a turn around.. They should give this guy a medal of the highest order.. Like the earlier post said "thais getting screwed by farang, unheard of". Look what happens in thailand everyday we get screwed over in every sector, it's so refreshing to read a story like this and see the boot on the other foot.

Maybe if this did happen more often thais might treat us fairly, equally, the same same, that's all I ask.. Very good story, maybe a leson for the thai people.. :jap:

What a pathetic answer. These people worked hard for their money and you want to give a medal to the guy who ripped them off!. You must have a miserable life, having thoughts like this!

The scary thing is he or she are not the only one's who think like that. Surprised people like that even take the time to read a forum like this one. Is there not a forum some place for narrow minded bigots.

[mca]

Is there not a forum some place for narrow minded bigots.

www.canyoubelievehowthickasshitisound.com

[FarangBuddha]

This story has been ongoing for over a year now...it is sad, mainly because as reported, the workers often pay [borrow] up to B 200,000 to "job brokers" up in Issan to even get these supposed "jobs" to begin with. Wouldn't suprise me if the Swedish fella was in cahoots with these Thai brokers all along and that they split up the "fees" for these "jobs."

Surprising that these labour abuses are allowed to go basically unchecked in that socialist workers' paradise of Sweden, however.

[TAWP]

Surprising that these labour abuses are allowed to go basically unchecked in that socialist workers' paradise of Sweden, however.

If the election up to entering the EU some years ago showed us anything is that the unions have no love for anyone besides their members, no-matter how poor or ripped off they are.

[MTH]

This story has been ongoing for over a year now...it is sad, mainly because as reported, the workers often pay [borrow] up to B 200,000 to "job brokers" up in Issan to even get these supposed "jobs" to begin with. Wouldn't suprise me if the Swedish fella was in cahoots with these Thai brokers all along and that they split up the "fees" for these "jobs."

Surprising that these labour abuses are allowed to go basically unchecked in that socialist workers' paradise of Sweden, however.

This story is new, just broke yesterday. However there have been similar cases for the last couple of years.

Last year I think a Swedish berry picking company went bankrupt just before salaries were about to be paid.

[Humphrey Bear]

This story has been ongoing for over a year now...it is sad, mainly because as reported, the workers often pay [borrow] up to B 200,000 to "job brokers" up in Issan to even get these supposed "jobs" to begin with. Wouldn't suprise me if the Swedish fella was in cahoots with these Thai brokers all along and that they split up the "fees" for these "jobs."

Surprising that these labour abuses are allowed to go basically unchecked in that socialist workers' paradise of Sweden, however.

This appears to be one man, with a Finnish name, although he could be a Swede.

I have worked for major Swedish contractors. At one time we tried to set up our own recruiting agency in Thailand as the Thai agencies were ripping off the workers they sent to us.

But impossible - Thai law would not allow it.

So we had to keep paying the scummy Thai agents and find ways round the conditions imposed so that the families of our workers received a fair portion of what these guys earned.

It cost us money at the start, but I had Thai workers following me from job-to-job for a dozen years or more, because they knew they would get fair treatment and their families would see more money. That is the basic Swedish approach to employees, fair and reasonable.

This guy deserves whatever's coming to him.

[FarangBuddha]

This story has been ongoing for over a year now...it is sad, mainly because as reported, the workers often pay [borrow] up to B 200,000 to "job brokers" up in Issan to even get these supposed "jobs" to begin with. Wouldn't suprise me if the Swedish fella was in cahoots with these Thai brokers all along and that they split up the "fees" for these "jobs."

Surprising that these labour abuses are allowed to go basically unchecked in that socialist workers' paradise of Sweden, however.

This appears to be one man, with a Finnish name, although he could be a Swede.

I have worked for major Swedish contractors. At one time we tried to set up our own recruiting agency in Thailand as the Thai agencies were ripping off the workers they sent to us.

But impossible - Thai law would not allow it.

So we had to keep paying the scummy Thai agents and find ways round the conditions imposed so that the families of our workers received a fair portion of what these guys earned.

It cost us money at the start, but I had Thai workers following me from job-to-job for a dozen years or more, because they knew they would get fair treatment and their families would see more money. That is the basic Swedish approach to employees, fair and reasonable.

This guy deserves whatever's coming to him.

Good job for your company trying to do the right thing. Of course, the corrupt Thai brokers and those "influentials" involved in scamming their fellow Thais won't allow it.

I thought the last I read on this a little while back was that the Swedish gov't would ban Thai laborers because of the abuses perpetrated on the workers by the Thai job brokers.

[rolly]

This story has been ongoing for over a year now...it is sad, mainly because as reported, the workers often pay [borrow] up to B 200,000 to "job brokers" up in Issan to even get these supposed "jobs" to begin with. Wouldn't suprise me if the Swedish fella was in cahoots with these Thai brokers all along and that they split up the "fees" for these "jobs."

Surprising that these labour abuses are allowed to go basically unchecked in that socialist workers' paradise of Sweden, however.

This appears to be one man, with a Finnish name, although he could be a Swede.

I have worked for major Swedish contractors. At one time we tried to set up our own recruiting agency in Thailand as the Thai agencies were ripping off the workers they sent to us.

But impossible - Thai law would not allow it.

So we had to keep paying the scummy Thai agents and find ways round the conditions imposed so that the families of our workers received a fair portion of what these guys earned.

It cost us money at the start, but I had Thai workers following me from job-to-job for a dozen years or more, because they knew they would get fair treatment and their families would see more money. That is the basic Swedish approach to employees, fair and reasonable.

This guy deserves whatever's coming to him.

Good job for your company trying to do the right thing. Of course, the corrupt Thai brokers and those "influentials" involved in scamming their fellow Thais won't allow it.

I thought the last I read on this a little while back was that the Swedish gov't would ban Thai laborers because of the abuses perpetrated on the workers by the Thai job brokers.

Pay them daily - that way you only risk one day's pay.

[JibJab]

Thought I saw this report earlier today on Thaivisa. Either way it looks like the head honcho in Sweden emptied the salary account of about 17 M baht and have not been seen since.

Leaving about 160 Thai workers stranded without pay and means to get back home.

Hope they get the bastard...

Well they won't have to look to hard, I'm sure he will be living in Thailand somewhere near a beach. Remember Thailand and Sweden have a special relationship. They do a lot of business together. That in itself is interesting but rarely discussed in the media. The Thai embassy will help them. Please.

[crazyswede]

If the company is in legal bankruptcy, they will receive their payments through wage guarantees .. in a year or so!

Not what they expected but better then nothing!

[kuffki]

What a turn around.. They should give this guy a medal of the highest order.. Like the earlier post said "thais getting screwed by farang, unheard of". Look what happens in thailand everyday we get screwed over in every sector, it's so refreshing to read a story like this and see the boot on the other foot.

Maybe if this did happen more often thais might treat us fairly, equally, the same same, that's all I ask.. Very good story, maybe a leson for the thai people.. :jap:

What a pathetic answer. These people worked hard for their money and you want to give a medal to the guy who ripped them off!. You must have a miserable life, having thoughts like this!

The scary thing is he or she are not the only one's who think like that. Surprised people like that even take the time to read a forum like this one. Is there not a forum some place for narrow minded bigots.

Oh all the noble members with high morals and values!

Of course i feel bad for the poor Thais that have been ripped off. But as other members have mentioned we farang get ripped off every day one way or another.Even those of you who live in deep Isaan and under some fantasy assumption that you do not.

We farang have no rights in this country and should we run into any scam or trouble or even an accident -we are always in the wrong.

KireB posted "These people worked hard for their money" so are we to presume that farang do not work hard for our money? Does the money fall from the trees for us or comes out the back side during every visit to the toilet.?

The difference is, this CEO will be found and punished while if same was in Thailand and he was Thai and it was farangs who got ripped off, nothing would come out of it.

Yes it is very bad what he did and Thai's have worked and lost money, some may end up getting the money eventually (or part there of) and the CEO will end up in jail. Now would same happened in Thailand if things were other way around???

In my personal experience, i have been ripped off by

1. Powerbuy- amount 5500 baht with no outcome at all

2. Ripped off by TATA car dealer-750 000 baht with no outcome

3. Bangkok Hospital -500 000 baht with no outcome

4. LG to the amount of 3 000 000 baht-with no outcome

5. Condo Developer-amount 100 000 baht with no outcome

And i am yet to meet a Thai who felt sorry for me or tried to help, so i guess i did not work hard for my money:unsure:

Edited October 4, 2010 by kuffki

[ukinbkk]

I stand by what I say, of course this is my point of view right? But looking at what Kuffki has just said it endorses my write up. The 2 dogooders who would like to see me hang high, try to read between the lines, think outside the box (if you can that is). I don't think you 2 have lived in thailand for long or know about the thai way, because if you did you wouldn't write stupid comments about clearly something you know nothing about.

Kuffki has been ripped off for large amounts of money whilst being in thailand, he is just a small proportion of the many who in number far exceed any thai national loosing a couple of thousand euro's.. They are the lucky one's.. if you added up the money that farang get cheated, robbed, murdered, fleeced out of on a daily basis in thailand it would be more than some countries GDP..

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.. ah haa haaa ahhhh....

[ukinbkk]

What a turn around.. They should give this guy a medal of the highest order.. Like the earlier post said "thais getting screwed by farang, unheard of". Look what happens in thailand everyday we get screwed over in every sector, it's so refreshing to read a story like this and see the boot on the other foot.

Maybe if this did happen more often thais might treat us fairly, equally, the same same, that's all I ask.. Very good story, maybe a leson for the thai people.. :jap:

What a pathetic answer. These people worked hard for their money and you want to give a medal to the guy who ripped them off!. You must have a miserable life, having thoughts like this!

Edited October 4, 2010 by ukinbkk

[ukinbkk]

What a turn around.. They should give this guy a medal of the highest order.. Like the earlier post said "thais getting screwed by farang, unheard of". Look what happens in thailand everyday we get screwed over in every sector, it's so refreshing to read a story like this and see the boot on the other foot.

Maybe if this did happen more often thais might treat us fairly, equally, the same same, that's all I ask.. Very good story, maybe a leson for the thai people.. :jap:

pathetic response - maybe Thai hookers and pimps in seedy towns do rip off Farangs, but you can't really equate them to people who have travelled 1000s of miles to work to feed their family back home in Thailand.

Newbie Scot, you need to open your eyes my son. Maybe when you know about thailan/thai culture you'll be able to make a valid contribution, give it a few years.

[padeakin]

I stand by what I say, of course this is my point of view right? But looking at what Kuffki has just said it endorses my write up. The 2 dogooders who would like to see me hang high, try to read between the lines, think outside the box (if you can that is). I don't think you 2 have lived in thailand for long or know about the thai way, because if you did you wouldn't write stupid comments about clearly something you know nothing about.

Kuffki has been ripped off for large amounts of money whilst being in thailand, he is just a small proportion of the many who in number far exceed any thai national loosing a couple of thousand euro's.. They are the lucky one's.. if you added up the money that farang get cheated, robbed, murdered, fleeced out of on a daily basis in thailand it would be more than some countries GDP..

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.. ah haa haaa ahhhh....

UKinBKK I do agree with your point that Farangsbeing ripped of in Thailandis a much bigger problem, and that the authorities in Thailandmistreat foreigners and encourage Thais to rip them off. Whereas in Europe the authorities try to help victims.However this does not mean that the person that committed thiscrime in Sweden should be applauded, he isno better than the Thai con men. Remember the victims are ordinary working classpeople.

[sirchai]

What a turn around.. They should give this guy a medal of the highest order.. Like the earlier post said "thais getting screwed by farang, unheard of". Look what happens in thailand everyday we get screwed over in every sector, it's so refreshing to read a story like this and see the boot on the other foot.

Maybe if this did happen more often thais might treat us fairly, equally, the same same, that's all I ask.. Very good story, maybe a leson for the thai people.. :jap:

What a pathetic answer. These people worked hard for their money and you want to give a medal to the guy who ripped them off!. You must have a miserable life, having thoughts like this!

ukinbkk....Indeed very pathetic thoughts of you. How can they screw you up,if you're familiar with this country, prices, language and other needed knowledge?

The lesson for Thais is getting worse. Never trust foreigners, please read what's going on in Thailand......:jap:

[zthyadat]

What a turn around.. They should give this guy a medal of the highest order.. Like the earlier post said "thais getting screwed by farang, unheard of". Look what happens in thailand everyday we get screwed over in every sector, it's so refreshing to read a story like this and see the boot on the other foot.

Maybe if this did happen more often thais might treat us fairly, equally, the same same, that's all I ask.. Very good story, maybe a leson for the thai people.. :jap:

I noted in your profile that you react to criticism of your views by telling the complainers that they are "newbies" and haven't been here long enough to understand the Thai way with the great import and wisdom that you do. But it doesn't matter how long you stay in a place if you consistently see it through bigoted eyes. The world will always show you what you look for, especially if you look for the bad in people. There's no fool like an old fool...

So let's talk time served rankings. I've been here 20 years and worked as a journalist the entire time - which means having hours long conversations with the head of the DSI, the Bang Kwang executioner, several top ranking business figures, farmers, politicians, activists, motorbike taxi drivers, etc., etc., which I have found very enlightening overall. That background doesn't guarantee I am not a bigoted moron of course, but it makes it seem less likely. So, Ukinbkk, what exactly have you been doing with your time here that has made you so very very wise? (And so very very bitter...)

The problem I think most people have with your original remark about how wonderful it is that these workers got ripped off of their hard earned money is that these aren't the same people who you seem to believe rip you off on a daily basis. You seem to feel that a long as a Thai - any Thai - gets punished, then that suits you fine. But these people earned their money honestly through hard work, they didn't steal it from some farang. So who but a nasty, twisted embittered individual would celebrate their misfortune?

And you really believe that having money stolen by a farang will make Thais stop and reflect and decide that they should stop running scams on farangs? I rather think it would have the opposite effect.

Edited October 4, 2010 by zthyadat

[zthyadat]

In my personal experience, i have been ripped off by

1. Powerbuy- amount 5500 baht with no outcome at all

2. Ripped off by TATA car dealer-750 000 baht with no outcome

3. Bangkok Hospital -500 000 baht with no outcome

4. LG to the amount of 3 000 000 baht-with no outcome

5. Condo Developer-amount 100 000 baht with no outcome

And i am yet to meet a Thai who felt sorry for me or tried to help, so i guess i did not work hard for my money:unsure:

Hang on - you are saying that all these large organisations listed have taken those amounts from you and you received nothing in return?

Man, you must be the biggest sucker ever born. Why would you hand over 500,000 to Bkk Hospital for nothing?

[zthyadat]

I stand by what I say, of course this is my point of view right? But looking at what Kuffki has just said it endorses my write up. The 2 dogooders who would like to see me hang high, try to read between the lines, think outside the box (if you can that is). I don't think you 2 have lived in thailand for long or know about the thai way, because if you did you wouldn't write stupid comments about clearly something you know nothing about.

Kuffki has been ripped off for large amounts of money whilst being in thailand, he is just a small proportion of the many who in number far exceed any thai national loosing a couple of thousand euro's.. They are the lucky one's.. if you added up the money that farang get cheated, robbed, murdered, fleeced out of on a daily basis in thailand it would be more than some countries GDP..

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.. ah haa haaa ahhhh....

Anyone this nasty just has to be a troll.... Please tell me such farangs don't exist

[mca]

We farang have no rights in this country and should we run into any scam or trouble or even an accident -we are always in the wrong.

In my personal experience, i have been ripped off by

1. Powerbuy- amount 5500 baht with no outcome at all

2. Ripped off by TATA car dealer-750 000 baht with no outcome

3. Bangkok Hospital -500 000 baht with no outcome

4. LG to the amount of 3 000 000 baht-with no outcome

5. Condo Developer-amount 100 000 baht with no outcome

With all due respects you the first sentence " we are always in the wrong" is entirely incorrect.

Giving rise to questioning your " ripped off " status regarding your list of complaints.

[Thaddeus]

So who but a nasty, twisted embittered individual would celebrate their misfortune?

Agree. Mocking anyones misfortune is basically wrong, making even more of it because they are a different race, creed or colour is much worse.