Thai Berry Pickers - No Fruits For Their Labour In Sweden

[webfact]

No fruits for their labour

By CHULARAT SAENGPASSA

THE NATION

It wasn't easy pickings for Thai labourers who travelled to Sweden to work on berry farms

Despite working hard in the berry orchards of Sweden, Chaiyaphum resident Khamnoon Narkkham and his wife returned to Thailand in October with only Bt200 in their pockets and almost Bt160,000 in debt.

Encouraged by the success of fellow Thais who netted tens of thousands of baht from berry picking, the couple borrowed the money for the trip. But after being there for two months, with only poor food and accommodation provided, they wondered if their predecessors' experiences had been the same. Upon their return, they realised they had been extremely unfortunate. The job-recruitment agency in Sweden folded, and although they were entitled to bankruptcy-insurance compensation, it was barely enough to cover the interest from the loans.

"Making matters worse, our rice and sugar cane fields were heavily flooded. We borrowed Bt100,000 for the chemicals for the sugar cane plantation, and we have nothing to settle the debt. We could harvest only 30 per cent of our rice, and it is barely enough for eating until the next harvest season," says the 33-year-old Khamnoon.

According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the couple is among 156 workers who failed to make a single satang for their two months of labour. While they returned home, some 39 workers stayed on in Sweden to sue the employer. Upon receiving the insurance compensation of 16,720 krona (Bt73,800), all but two returned home last month. Because the payment is subject to 25 per cent income tax, they will receive considerably less.

Like many low-income earners, Khamnoon and his wife turned to a loan shark to finance their trip. They borrowed Bt80,000 each, subject to an interest rate of three per cent, about Bt4,800 a month.

Having heard the success stories of those who had gone before, Khamnoon figured he could easily make enough money to pay off his loans and come out ahead.

In April, the recruiter known only as Phoomkhacha came with a Swede to Chaiyaphum to attract Thai labourers to work for Lom Berry, aka Lomsjo Bar AB.

The loans were to cover fees demanded by Phoomkhacha.

They departed on July 29 and stayed at the home of employer Ari Hallikanen, moving to the farm two days later before beginning work on August 7.

Over the next two months, the Thais braved forbidding working conditions: daily travel of 300 to 400 kilometres and carrying a payload of 30 to 40kg.

"We finished work after 9pm and slept for only five hours and we carried the extra weight on top of a daily minimum of 24kg in the hope of extra pay, which we never received," says Khamnoon.

He adds that the company paid each worker only once, on August 25. They got 6,000 krona, which was described as an allowance and not the full amount of 16,372 krona - the salary promised in the contract - and nothing of the promised bonus of 23 krona per kg.

The company, he said, said this would allow the workers to avoid paying taxes.

When it came time for the next pay day, the company said payment would be delayed by three days. "But then they suddenly disappeared the next day, on September 26, with our salary, and never showed up," Khamnoon says.

The workers filed a complaint with Swedish police, who contacted the Thai Embassy and the company to reach a settlement. Khamnoon says a son of the company owner said all the money was with his father, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

They were told that daily expenses of 190 krona covering food, accommodation, fuel and car rent would be deducted from their salary, in addition to the tools they needed for work, worth 150 krona.

The workers had to carry with them personal utensils, including chopping board, kitchen knives, and slingshots, which proved useful for shooting down wild birds when they ran out of food.

Each of the 156 workers paid a minimum of Bt80,000 in commissions and fees to secure their jobs. The recruiter Phoomkhacha had pledged a minimum income of around Bt140,000.

Overseas labour, especially fruit collection, has been popular among Chaiyaphum residents for around 10 years, after a local woman married to a Swede introduced this work to her neighbours.

In the beginning, possibly through jobs with honest employers, most local residents returned to Thailand with fat wallets.

Supphana Khumdee, of the provincial employment office, recalls how returning workers bought pickup trucks as soon they arrived back from Sweden, which popularised the practice of overseas fruit picking.

Supphana worked with the local Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to initially shoulder their debts and later collected the repayments at low interest rates. The Labour Ministry later sought help through the Foreign Affairs Ministry to demand payments the company owed to these workers.

Fruit picking is also popular among Chinese and Vietnamese workers. With a Swedish government quota is place, competition is fierce, and desperate Thais leap at the chance whenever it is offered to them.

The Swedish government has since issued strict regulations and now demands work permits for foreign workers - a tourist visa will no longer suffice. There are now four companies registered with the Thai Labour Ministry to land fruit-collection contracts in Sweden and Finland.

Duanngarm Buachom, 42, and her husband from Khon Kaen, were elated by the Swedish court's order for compensation payments. They borrowed Bt160,000 from a loan shark and they are burdened with a four-per-cent monthly interest rate.

"The faster we receive the payment, the better. The money will settle some debts. We're still scratching our heads on how to cover the rest," she says.

Like Khamnoon, Duanngarm has vowed never to take on this job and return to Sweden again.

-- The Nation 2010-12-21

[johna]

I can sympathize with these workers but they did receive some compensation.

On the other hand Thais show complete indifference to the treatmeant of foreign workers here.

[spiderleghead]

I can sympathize with these workers but they did receive some compensation.

On the other hand Thais show complete indifference to the treatmeant of foreign workers here.

yup, some sympathies, but agree that when foreign people get ripped off in thailand, no local people seem to give a shit.

[khaowong1]

I can sympathize with these workers but they did receive some compensation.

On the other hand Thais show complete indifference to the treatmeant of foreign workers here.

could someone say.... Karma?

[pogal]

Its not 100% clear but I assume the agency is Swedish? Or run by Thai's over there? Would be interesting to know who the people are behind the agency.

And then again, if all is legitimate, which it seems to be, a company going bankrupt nowadays is quite common and can hardly be called discriminatory or corrupt. They have been paid out by Swedish law, etc.

"S*#T HAPPENS". Unfortunately it has happened to some people that can least afford it. Not really a news story as such. Just a bit of bad luck for some people.

[007]

Som nam, na? Having worked in Thailand for a couple of years I have, at times, experienced the same as those Thai workers in Sweden, i.e. payment of salary or wages delayed and then not paid at all, the employer having closed down; having "temporary financial difficulty", etc. Also, borrowing 60,000 baht, and again 100,000 from loan sharks in order to finance working in a foreign country which they had never set foot in before, just to earn "tens of thousands" is plain stupid...

Edited December 21, 2010 by 007

[007]

Its not 100% clear but I assume the agency is Swedish? Or run by Thai's over there? Would be interesting to know who the people are behind the agency.

I wouldn't be surprised. Yours truly had to talk some Thai birds twice or thrice out of moving to and working for Thai brothel owners in Australia and Hong Kong. The girls' friends weren't so lucky, went there and returned weeks later to Thailand without a single baht . (But with plenty of knowledge of male physical features in those countries...)

Edited December 21, 2010 by 007

[happyrobert]

"........a son of the company owner (Ari Hallikanen) said all the money was with his father, whose whereabouts remain unknown......"

I saw him yesterday in Pattaya and he is an honest man, always keeping his word. He had returned with the cash to pay for damages to his JetSki rental.

[pipo1000]

In April, the recruiter known only as Phoomkhacha came with a Swede to Chaiyaphum to attract Thai labourers to work for Lom Berry, aka Lomsjo Bar AB.<BR sab="400"><BR sab="401">

I guess this says it all.

[IMA_FARANG]

Scams like this have been run for years...sometimes by foriegners but also by Thais. They prey on the poorly educated and guillible...who believe the lies they are told about the "big money" they will make. One of my Thai girlfriend's family was taken by the same type of scam years ago being offered a "big money" job as a janitor in Saudi Arabia at the time. He ended up with only about 2000 baht for a year's hard work after the middlemen had taken most of his pay for the "fees"...among which they made him pay 150,000 baht for a Thai passport and another 50,000 baht for an "airline ticket" to Saudi Arabia. When they arrived in Saudi their Thai passports were confiscated (for a Saudi "work" visa they were told) and were charged about 10000 baht a month for "housing"....which was a bunk with five or six other Thais in a single room.

I know now that the company who hired the workers was a Saudi company who paid the employment agency about $2000 for each person they supplied...all of which went into the recruiter's pockets here in Thailand.

It's not a new story.

[bannork]

Som nam, na? Having worked in Thailand for a couple of years I have, at times, experienced the same as those Thai workers in Sweden, i.e. payment of salary or wages delayed and then not paid at all, the employer having closed down; having "temporary financial difficulty", etc. Also, borrowing 60,000 baht, and again 100,000 from loan sharks in order to finance working in a foreign country which they had never set foot in before, just to earn "tens of thousands" is plain stupid...

i don't think it's stupidity, I think it's desperation. My wife's youngest brother is about to go to Quatar for 2 years, the labour fees are 60,000 baht.

He has no money so he's borrowing 60,000 baht from the loan shark at 5% per month.

He has a pick-up with monthly payments of 9,000 baht.

The salary is a paltry 25,000 baht a month.

Monthly expenses- 9,000 baht for the pick-up

3,000 baht interest on the loan

2,000 baht for his 2 kids living with us (his estranged wife pays us another 2,000 baht)

3,000 baht for food, shampoo, etc

So before eating one grain of rice, and before paying back anything on the capital he's borrowed, he only has 8,000 baht left. So if he pays another 5,000 baht a month to pay back the capital on the loan, that will take him a year, with just 3,000 baht possibly saved a month.

It sounds like a 2 year prison sentence to me, but he doesn't know what else to do as he's missed 2 payments on the pick-up and seizure can't be too far away.

[peteryeah]

How bitter at life do you have to be to make retarded comments such as "Som nam na" or "Karma?" ?

That's like laughing at a bomb killing innocents because "their people" killed innocents of another country before.

Edited December 21, 2010 by peteryeah

[asiawatcher]

Som nam, na? Having worked in Thailand for a couple of years I have, at times, experienced the same as those Thai workers in Sweden, i.e. payment of salary or wages delayed and then not paid at all, the employer having closed down; having "temporary financial difficulty", etc. Also, borrowing 60,000 baht, and again 100,000 from loan sharks in order to finance working in a foreign country which they had never set foot in before, just to earn "tens of thousands" is plain stupid...

i don't think it's stupidity, I think it's desperation. My wife's youngest brother is about to go to Quatar for 2 years, the labour fees are 60,000 baht.

He has no money so he's borrowing 60,000 baht from the loan shark at 5% per month.

He has a pick-up with monthly payments of 9,000 baht.

The salary is a paltry 25,000 baht a month.

Monthly expenses- 9,000 baht for the pick-up

3,000 baht interest on the loan

2,000 baht for his 2 kids living with us (his estranged wife pays us another 2,000 baht)

3,000 baht for food, shampoo, etc

So before eating one grain of rice, and before paying back anything on the capital he's borrowed, he only has 8,000 baht left. So if he pays another 5,000 baht a month to pay back the capital on the loan, that will take him a year, with just 3,000 baht possibly saved a month.

It sounds like a 2 year prison sentence to me, but he doesn't know what else to do as he's missed 2 payments on the pick-up and seizure can't be too far away.

Hand back the pick up and wear the consequences - the first loss is the best. From experience!!!

[a51mas]

Som nam, na? Having worked in Thailand for a couple of years I have, at times, experienced the same as those Thai workers in Sweden, i.e. payment of salary or wages delayed and then not paid at all, the employer having closed down; having "temporary financial difficulty", etc. Also, borrowing 60,000 baht, and again 100,000 from loan sharks in order to finance working in a foreign country which they had never set foot in before, just to earn "tens of thousands" is plain stupid...

Since you have been through the same situation of not getting paid by employer, I thought you would be more understanding of their predicaments, but you chose to ridiculed them instead. Judging from your comment the real stupid one is you, a genuine eejit.

Edited December 21, 2010 by a51mas

[Tanaka]

As sad story this is with criminals both in Sweden and Thailand taking advantage of poor thai people hoping to make some money with hard work, some things do not add up in the story. First, if you don't make more than 16300 SEK something in a year, you do not pay any tax. Second, what was the heavy loads they had to carry every day? When you pick berries, you carry buckets and/or baskets which you unload on trucks or cars you travel in. And slingshots to kill birds with? Give me a break, you have to be a good marksman to do that and a slingshot is not an easy weapon to hit a small object with.

Also, there are no berry farms or -orchards in Sweden. The red and blue berries grow wild in the forests, if you are lucky that year, and they are there for anyone to pick. Albeit now you need a work permit to do it for profit.As a foreigner that is.

[happyrobert]

How bitter at life do you have to be to make retarded comments such as "Som nam na" or "Karma?" ?

That's like laughing at a bomb killing innocents because "their people" killed innocents of another country before.

Uhh, no it's not.

Your simile is at opposite ends of the spectrum.

[inthepink]

In April, the recruiter known only as Phoomkhacha came with a Swede to Chaiyaphum to attract Thai labourers to work for Lom Berry, aka Lomsjo Bar AB.<BR sab="400"><BR sab="401">

I guess this says it all.

What it says to me is that you cannot bear for any of the blame to be laid at a westerners feet.

"They departed on July 29 and stayed at the home of employer Ari Hallikanen, moving to the farm two days later before beginning work on August 7."

Sounds quite Swedish to me....

Edited December 21, 2010 by inthepink

[mrdome]

I can sympathize with these workers but they did receive some compensation.

On the other hand Thais show complete indifference to the treatmeant of foreign workers here.

could someone say.... Karma?

Unless you are saying Khamnoon Narkkham and his wife were engaged in defrauding foreign workers you have completely misunderstood the concept of karma.

It is disgusting when contracts and promises are not kept anywhere, especially when people take on loans and are in a desperate situation. I believe we can agree on that.

I hope in the next season they won't find any workers to pick the f&*^%ing berries for the f&*^%ing jam.

[Pacificperson]

These placement fees are such a rip-off. Usually they mean that the overseas laborer gets about half of the salary promised. "I work the first year for free and the second year for me" is what I hear. The problem is when they loose the job in the first year and are stuck with the loan that they have very little hope of paying off without the overseas job. Fear of getting stuck with this debt makes for very compliant employees.

[TAWP]

In April, the recruiter known only as Phoomkhacha came with a Swede to Chaiyaphum to attract Thai labourers to work for Lom Berry, aka Lomsjo Bar AB.<BR sab="400"><BR sab="401">

I guess this says it all.

What it says to me is that you cannot bear for any of the blame to be laid at a westerners feet.

"They departed on July 29 and stayed at the home of employer Ari Hallikanen, moving to the farm two days later before beginning work on August 7."

Sounds quite Swedish to me....

Well no, Finnish, but anyway...

Edited December 21, 2010 by TAWP

[Hawaiian]

These placement fees are such a rip-off. Usually they mean that the overseas laborer gets about half of the salary promised. "I work the first year for free and the second year for me" is what I hear. The problem is when they loose the job in the first year and are stuck with the loan that they have very little hope of paying off without the overseas job. Fear of getting stuck with this debt makes for very compliant employees.

[/qu

Have a friend who has worked overseas most of his life. Years ago he was sent to Thailand to recruit skilled laborers, welders I believe, to work in the Saudi oil industry. He was advised to use a Thai employment agency. He instead hired a Thai individual to scout for potential workers and gave him a bonus for every worker that met his requirements

and was hired.

I asked him why he didn't go through the agency. His reply in one word, "Corruption."

[LomSak27]

"They departed on July 29 and stayed at the home of employer Ari Hallikanen, moving to the farm two days later before beginning work on August 7."

Sounds quite Swedish to me....

The workers filed a complaint with Swedish police, who contacted the Thai Embassy and the company to reach a settlement. Khamnoon says a son of the company owner said all the money was with his father, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

This would indicate a company based in Thailand - joint partners? By the way charges are still pending against a Thai national who defrauded fruit pickers in CA and OR then fled back to Thailand. Those Bastions of the free press: The Nation and The Bangkok Post strangely failed to mention this fact, using the term "american company". They failed to mention it was a American Company owned and operated by a Thai National who caught a flight back and was now in Thailand. who would have guessed?

Just another reason why Thailand does not really want a real substantive Extradition agreement, as in for Thaksin. Although it gets talked about, it won't happen because other countries will send a laundry list over.

By the way it is known where this man lives as the workers when sent back to Thailand went to his house to demand pay. They were forced to leave by police who were guarding his house.

[inthepink]

the son of the company owner is Scandinavian though (Finnish according to TAWP)...how does that suggest to you that it is a joint venture with a Thai company?

[sirchai]

How bitter at life do you have to be to make retarded comments such as "Som nam na" or "Karma?" ?

That's like laughing at a bomb killing innocents because "their people" killed innocents of another country before.

Uhh, no it's not.

Your simile is at opposite ends of the spectrum.

I wuldn't blame the Thais. Blame the Swedes. But they're already blamed.:jap: