More Charges In Forced Labor Of Thais On US Farms

[chuang]

My sympathy is with the 400 Thais. The Thais that I have known to travel abroad are like a fish out of water when they don't have the foods they are used to. They don't like it but will tolerate it for the opportunity to earn 'good money'(which can be much lower than 'Minimum Wage' and they think it is good) but these 400 poor souls were even cheated out of that. I know, because I married a Thai girl out of a sweat shop in Los Angeles, Just a stroke of luck that she was spending the night with me when the Immigration Police raided her shop at 5 AM about 15 years ago -- Just after the 'infamous' El Monte Sweatshop got busted. I saw the poor conditions they lived in.............. I wish a good case of 'Karma' on their perpetraitors........

Fancy the US farang cheated and exploited the Thais....all i read in this forum, is the other way round...

[Bagwan]

A suitably qualified lady in my ken applied for a position at Pattaya City Hall. She was told that she could have the job if she handed over 50K baht and agreed to shag the boss when he was in the mood. No need to worry she was told because the boss always used a condom.I think a suitable reply might have been 'no care about condom. I am HIV positive already'.

I'm happy that the US end people will get theirs but I doubt if any retribution will be handed out at this end.

[Nisa]

A suitably qualified lady in my ken applied for a position at Pattaya City Hall. She was told that she could have the job if she handed over 50K baht and agreed to shag the boss when he was in the mood. No need to worry she was told because the boss always used a condom.I think a suitable reply might have been 'no care about condom. I am HIV positive already'.

I'm happy that the US end people will get theirs but I doubt if any retribution will be handed out at this end.

How is the job working out for her?

Edited January 15, 2011 by Nisa

[ableguy]

Wow, Thai complaining about working on a farm with low pay or no pay. I can see the no pay being a crime, but low pay that's standard for any migrant laborer in any country.

I never once seen Hmong or Vietnamese complain about low wages as they picked strawberries in California fields.

Next thing you know, Juan Valdez will be bitching about him getting low pay and extreme working conditions to pick each individual coffee bean for you and I to savior.

Mexican labors don't sue for low wages for picking grapes for your wine or Oranges, apples, vegetables, etc.

Just tell Thai. If you don't like it there, then point to the ocean and say, Thailand is that way, enjoy your swim.

A little harsh, but funny.

Very harsh and off point. Mexicans don't sue because they are typically illegally there and have no status to sue. There have been many Hispanic groups in the past that have brought many lawsuits on their behalf in California and elsewhere. It's also not the low wages, it's the entire fraud of luring them on false promises and the subsequent treatment here and not just the wages. It was a total scam to get these people to work for virtually nothing knowing they had no power to do much. Oooops! Wrong! Falang go jail now!. I've seen too much of this in AZ with the human smugglers and it's not pretty and no one deserves to be treated like that. I remember a few years ago the same kind of scam lured a bunch of Thai teachers to Lousiana where a similar treatment was awaiting them. Dispicable on any level. My father in law is a Thai farmer and I can't imagine allowing him to be treated like that.

If they recruitede Thai teachers then they probably got paid what they were worth.

[elshaheen]

Wow, Thai complaining about working on a farm with low pay or no pay. I can see the no pay being a crime, but low pay that's standard for any migrant laborer in any country.

I never once seen Hmong or Vietnamese complain about low wages as they picked strawberries in California fields.

Next thing you know, Juan Valdez will be bitching about him getting low pay and extreme working conditions to pick each individual coffee bean for you and I to savior.

Mexican labors don't sue for low wages for picking grapes for your wine or Oranges, apples, vegetables, etc.

Just tell Thai. If you don't like it there, then point to the ocean and say, Thailand is that way, enjoy your swim.

A little harsh, but funny.

Very harsh and off point. Mexicans don't sue because they are typically illegally there and have no status to sue. There have been many Hispanic groups in the past that have brought many lawsuits on their behalf in California and elsewhere. It's also not the low wages, it's the entire fraud of luring them on false promises and the subsequent treatment here and not just the wages. It was a total scam to get these people to work for virtually nothing knowing they had no power to do much. Oooops! Wrong! Falang go jail now!. I've seen too much of this in AZ with the human smugglers and it's not pretty and no one deserves to be treated like that. I remember a few years ago the same kind of scam lured a bunch of Thai teachers to Lousiana where a similar treatment was awaiting them. Dispicable on any level. My father in law is a Thai farmer and I can't imagine allowing him to be treated like that.

I have a friend who works at a farm next to illigal immigrant Mexican workers. Many of them work for low wages and the owner of the farm sometimes does not pay if he's not making a profit. If the workers complain. The owner puts a call into Immigration in San Francisco and in a few days a bus pulls up including Immigration. So, those Mexicans usually keep their mouths shut.

[Tanaka]

What a nasty racket.

Glad the Americans have had the decency to terminate it, & bring those responsible to justice.

And contrary to the Swedish authorities re. the thais who were lured into going there to pick berries last summer

[oldsailor35]

Elshaeen .........Any migrant labourer in any country ? You got that wrong. Strict laws prevent that in Australia.

[oldsailor35]

Wow, Thai complaining about working on a farm with low pay or no pay. I can see the no pay being a crime, but low pay that's standard for any migrant laborer in any country.

I never once seen Hmong or Vietnamese complain about low wages as they picked strawberries in California fields.

Next thing you know, Juan Valdez will be bitching about him getting low pay and extreme working conditions to pick each individual coffee bean for you and I to savior.

Mexican labors don't sue for low wages for picking grapes for your wine or Oranges, apples, vegetables, etc.

Just tell Thai. If you don't like it there, then point to the ocean and say, Thailand is that way, enjoy your swim.

A little harsh, but funny.

Very harsh and off point. Mexicans don't sue because they are typically illegally there and have no status to sue. There have been many Hispanic groups in the past that have brought many lawsuits on their behalf in California and elsewhere. It's also not the low wages, it's the entire fraud of luring them on false promises and the subsequent treatment here and not just the wages. It was a total scam to get these people to work for virtually nothing knowing they had no power to do much. Oooops! Wrong! Falang go jail now!. I've seen too much of this in AZ with the human smugglers and it's not pretty and no one deserves to be treated like that. I remember a few years ago the same kind of scam lured a bunch of Thai teachers to Lousiana where a similar treatment was awaiting them. Dispicable on any level. My father in law is a Thai farmer and I can't imagine allowing him to be treated like that.

I have a friend who works at a farm next to illigal immigrant Mexican workers. Many of them work for low wages and the owner of the farm sometimes does not pay if he's not making a profit. If the workers complain. The owner puts a call into Immigration in San Francisco and in a few days a bus pulls up including Immigration. So, those Mexicans usually keep their mouths shut.

In Australia, the boss will get heavy fines if he employs illegal labour, also if he pays below the federal or state rates. Everybody must have a work permit to produce on being employed. No work permit, no start and believe me NO boss would take the risk.

[FritsSikkink]

@oldsailor35

Statistics

Each year the department locates a significant number of people who have been working illegally.

As at 30 June 2009, it was estimated that some 48 700 people were unlawfully in Australia.

Around 80 per cent of these people are of working age. In addition, some people who are lawfully in Australia are working in breach of their visa conditions.

In 2008–09, the department located 990 people working illegally. The top three industries in which illegal workers were located included:

• agriculture, forestry, and fishing (largely farming)
• accommodation, cafes and restaurants
• construction.

[marc11864]

Wow, Thai complaining about working on a farm with low pay or no pay. I can see the no pay being a crime, but low pay that's standard for any migrant laborer in any country.

I never once seen Hmong or Vietnamese complain about low wages as they picked strawberries in California fields.

Next thing you know, Juan Valdez will be bitching about him getting low pay and extreme working conditions to pick each individual coffee bean for you and I to savior.

Mexican labors don't sue for low wages for picking grapes for your wine or Oranges, apples, vegetables, etc.

Just tell Thai. If you don't like it there, then point to the ocean and say, Thailand is that way, enjoy your swim.

I hope that you are just being facetious. If not, you need a HUGE kick in the ass!

[paulgfox]

"A little harsh" Wow, what an understand from the other post. You obviously don't know what you are talking about!! I live in Hawaii and know about this case. These good hard working Thais were promised, no guaranteed (!) a certain wage and living conditions. They went heavily into debt so that they could come here and make a better life for their families back home. Once they got here they got neither. I know a lot of Thais have a lower standard of living than us in the West, but the standards these guys were FORCED to live in were even BELOW Thai standards. You should know, at least, a little more about what you are blogging about before making such rash comments. I'll sorry if I'm a little "rash" on you, but this case has gotten under my skin. I will not rest until I see all these defendants burning in Hell! That includes the two Thai labor traders that turned on their fellow Thais!

[bina]

i am so glad they got these guys; i have been following this case since 2001 when a thai worker from here who'd gone back to udon thani got his passport/visa permit to work for global... he was sent from farm to farm all over the states; witht eh help from someone here on the board i was able to get a letter to him once in hawaii, where he was picking pineapples; he told me he was waiting for his salary to get to him and they were also supposed to return money that they allegedly took off by 'accindent'. also he and others were charged for house damages that wre incurred by other migrant workers from somewhere else (he was not sure where they were from but they also stole from the thais, and caused other problems). i had complained to hana zohar of 'kav l'oved' who had told me there was an international case going on against global. i also had the 'pleasure' of calling overseas to speak to people in global to investigate the problem of thai friend's salary, and got the run around. also, the israeli was on the 'wanted' list here for having several manpower companies that were closed down and re-opened under various new names.

all i can sayis im glad they got them, but that doesnt stop otehrs from cropping up in place of them. because israel is a tiny country, word of mouth and lots of 'running inteferance' by the thai consulate and several good people in the consulate, most major cases get taken care of. yes, here there is lots of thais getting bad salaries, taken advantage of, bad living conditions, but for the most part, they've learned here to 'strike' , to 'blacklist' moshavim/employers (refusing to work, or deliberately doing bad work so as to move to somewhere else), and they are able to ehlp eachother. american is so much more physically spread out that the 'public eye' doesnt see most of what goes on.

s for the labor traders, i also spoke to one from said company, in hawaii ( i tried in thai but reverted to english and also got snobbed off); these guys(and women) are usually from the city, and for their higher wages they are willing to do anything but help the thai laboureres (here seems often to be the case also, although some do try to help, their hands are often tied as to how much they can actually do anything, and they are also worried about their own asses- there is some problem fo bangkok vs. issaan also going on here as well).

i have since lost contact with my friend- the guy who worked in our kibbutz petting zoo for 6+ years, knew every child that came to visit, knew the work better then any of us, and was one of the first thais on our kibbutz that people here actually got to know (i got married and most thai males wont continue to correspond with a woman if she's married, and most thai husbands dont like that either, so we havent heard from him since 2007. he was a very proper guy, supporting his little girl and sending money to his ex's mother taking care of the girl, and sending money to his own mother. not a drinker, very intelligent, great worker, and it makes me so angry that he wasted his mother's land (chanote for bank loan) and a large part of his life working and not getting his wages, and i wasnt able to help him in any concrete way.)

anyhow, glad some justice will be done....

bina

israel

[Bagwan]

A suitably qualified lady in my ken applied for a position at Pattaya City Hall. She was told that she could have the job if she handed over 50K baht and agreed to shag the boss when he was in the mood. No need to worry she was told because the boss always used a condom.I think a suitable reply might have been 'no care about condom. I am HIV positive already'.

I'm happy that the US end people will get theirs but I doubt if any retribution will be handed out at this end.

How is the job working out for her?

She turned the job down. I doubt if she would have taken it anyway since she pussy whips the old guy she cohabits with. When they met up she said that she could not be with him unless he gave her 250K baht to pay off a debt to a phu yai guy who wanted her for a mia noi. Then she said that there would be no sex unless they married. He avoided that as his pension would have been halved so that she could collect after he kicked off. There was some sort of airy fairy Buddhist ceremony though in fancy dress to save her face and make appear virtuous. That she had lived with a Thai guy for four years previously didn't enter into his head. He has paid for her to take a Masters degree which involved four trips overseas, she has been on trips to Italy and Germany for unaccompanied vacations, and he says that they are together only for about 10% of the time; she is busy visiting friends and relatives - she says. He had paid for a house up country for her and also a car. I could go on and on but but I have already written beggars belief. Going to work is not IMO part of her life plans.

Previously he has had Korean, Philippino and US wives. Seems to me that he has learned nothing.

[dighambara]

Wow, Thai complaining about working on a farm with low pay or no pay. I can see the no pay being a crime, but low pay that's standard for any migrant laborer in any country.

I never once seen Hmong or Vietnamese complain about low wages as they picked strawberries in California fields.

Next thing you know, Juan Valdez will be bitching about him getting low pay and extreme working conditions to pick each individual coffee bean for you and I to savior.

Mexican labors don't sue for low wages for picking grapes for your wine or Oranges, apples, vegetables, etc.

Just tell Thai. If you don't like it there, then point to the ocean and say, Thailand is that way, enjoy your swim.

Well compare that to Thais that go to work in Israel, decent wage and treated with respect, to the point that many stay on for 5 years (farming). No these people were promised something probably not in a written contract, but verbally and we know how persuasive these recruiters can be, they arrived and found the money promised was a lot lower, then they are saddle with an unknown expense i.e. pay more for travel, so now they are basically economic prisoners in a foreign land, the only reason they stay on is because now their family back in the villages are saddle with a large bill by the recruiter mafia (guarantee someone took their passports for safe keeping, so no can leave the country). They should prosecute all of the individuals involved, slave labor at its finest. Yeah there's the ocean enjoy your swim my A@@.

Caveat Emptor

[ronrat]

Clearly someone is equally happy with the worldwide sex slave trade as well. You know who you are and when your arse ends up in a sling I for one will will be laughing my head off. You are a disgrace to humanity.

Edited January 16, 2011 by ronrat

[bina]

paulgfox, nothing will happen to the thai recruiters. they will go back, be set up in a differnt shop in udon or nakhon elsewhere, and recruit thais with 'streets in america are paved with gold'. several thais that have finished their time here on kibbutz have wanted to go to the states, after what happend to penomphrai (my friend from the past), i have managed to disuade them. the problem is that it is like thais playing 'huey'. they play the odds. one person does come back wtih big bucks and good reports, and everyone bets that they will also.

israel is usually a more straightforward bet. everyone knows everyone here, everyone has pi/nong somewhere here, and the support and connection system is much more wide spread although the companies here also finagle the wages /salary sheets/lopping off wage payments for wierd reasons etc. howver, as ive stated before, the word of mouth and worker awareness here is very high, and most employers have found that treating workers well means better long term workers, who then recommend pi/nong, so there is continuity. we have cousins and brothers of guys who worked for us 8 yrs ago!!! it means that they ahve more identity with the place theyw ork in.

in the states, the workers were truly migrant workers being moved per season from place to place, often with curfews, or unable to phoone as they had no cash in hand, since the company withheld the cash for various 'outstanding payments', fake charges, etc. to differ from the thais here in israel, those in the states cannot setup kitchen gardens, develop friendships/girlfriends, or feel at home anywhere. they are work machines living out of suitcases. my friend said that they were told to pack 24 hours before the flight, theynever knew where they were going or where they were. they werent always able to get thai type food products, and we werent able to send packages as they didnt arrive at their destinations since they were moved around so often with no follow up. i can also say that when i asked global in sanfransisco main office to help find my friend to ensure package delivery, he wasnt even listed (he used his new passport name but i had both names and thai id info). lots of finagling.

here in israel , htey mostly set up gardens, many many have mia noi filipinas, they ahve their own bands, parties, barbers, tatoo artists, etc that make many of the farm villages here seem like mini issaan muubaans.

most thais here have access to thai food sources (as someone pointed out). in the beginning there were none, but entrpaneurs discovered a lucrative business in mobile outreach shops bringing food products, thai meds, phone cars etc out to even the most remote village farms. my friend on the other hand had to walk several kilometeres to phone me from a public phone as he had no access to phone cards or his cash... he was in seattle, hawaii, maryland and new york for strawberries, apples, vegetables and pineapples an strawberries.

there was a member here on the board living at the time in hawaii that by accident realized that a group of thais including my friend was on one of the island farms so he was able to facilite getting a letter off to my friend. soon after that, we lost contact as i stated before in previous post. since then, i havent a clue as to what happened. and i probably never will.

bina

israel

[Hawaiian]

Bina, some of your friends may be the same individuals who experiences are described in a Mother Jones magazine article.

The Hawaii Free Press mentions the article and makes a connection to some extremely wealthy and high profile Americans who control Maui Land & Pineapple. It is the pineapple plantation on the island of Maui where Thai workers were employed through Global Horizons.

What I find very disturbing are the number of political and business leaders who are asking for leniency for the defendants in a different, but related case involving Global Horizons. Among them are two former governors of Hawaii.

The accused in this case have withdrawn their guilty pleas and the court has returned the $192,000 it awarded in damages. They claim the money it needed for defense costs in the new trial. One of Hawaii's leading defense lawyers has withdrawn from the case. Probably upset that his clients threw away the deal he negotiated.

While the owner's of the Maui plantation have not been accused, it seems like the airplane the court is trying to seize is involved with the transporting of workers to this farm.

Using a private plane makes it more difficult to document identification of passengers and easier to seize the workers' passports.

In the meantime, the delay will give the prosecution more time to obtain trafficking visas for potential witnesses. It will also provide more time to tie up any loose ends or cracks in the case.