Thai pickers miss flights, still fight for pay in Finland

[Lite Beer]

Thai pickers miss flights, still fight for pay in Finland

Finland: -- Thai berry pickers are staying in Finland until they have all been paid, according to their supporters. Negotiations brought payments for 30 of the pickers, but the remaining 20 have not received the money they feel they are owed, Finnish Yle reported.

The company they are in dispute with, Ber-Ex, says that the matter is closed following talks over the weekend. CEO Kari Jansa claims the money for the remaining 20 pickers is being sent to Thailand. The pickers arrived in Helsinki on Monday, with most booked on flights to leave that day. They refused to board the plane, however, out of solidarity with 20 of their colleagues still in dispute with the company.

“Nobody is leaving the country until those 20 receive their pay,” said Taneli Hämäläinen, a contact person for the group.

Ville Hoikkala, the lawyer who helped the pickers file a human trafficking complaint (which was rejected by the prosecutor), told Yle that he was not aware of the matter. He last met the pickers two days ago and did not want to comment on the case, but will meet the Thai group on Thursday.

Visas for the pickers run out at the start of October. At present they have accommodation in the Helsinki area until Friday, or Saturday morning at the latest.

“We are in a tight spot,” said Hämäläinen. “It’s difficult to say where we go from here.”

Source: http://scandasia.com/thai-pickers-miss-flights-still-fight-pay-finland/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=thai-pickers-miss-flights-still-fight-pay-finland

--Scandasia.com 2013-09-27

[Mampara]

Isn't there a Thai Embassy in Finland that can sort this problem out?

Edited September 28, 2013 by metisdead
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[tingtongfarang]

Wonder what the other side of the story is

[jonclark]

Wonder what might happen if the Burmese / Cambodian fishermen tried the same stunt in the major fishing ports regarding the treatment and with holding of their wages, here in Thailand. Do you think the Thai authorities would be a sympathetic as the Finnish??

Yeah - stupid question we know the answer already - bullet to the head, anyone else want to complain? Good. Now back to work! - Job done

I pity the 'eternal victims', the Thai portray themselves as

[Kilgore Trout]

Perhaps when they return to Thailand they can get jobs on a fishing boat.

I hope Finland never allows Thais to pick berries there again.

[BruceSmith]

Perhaps when they return to Thailand they can get jobs on a fishing boat.

I hope Finland never allows Thais to pick berries there again.

Now that you got that off your chest I bet you feel good

Have a nice day

[Thai at Heart]

Still not conclusive whether they were correctly or incorrectly paid....

[Alwyn]

Wonder what might happen if the Burmese / Cambodian fishermen tried the same stunt in the major fishing ports regarding the treatment and with holding of their wages, here in Thailand. Do you think the Thai authorities would be a sympathetic as the Finnish??

Yeah - stupid question we know the answer already - bullet to the head, anyone else want to complain? Good. Now back to work! - Job done

I pity the 'eternal victims', the Thai portray themselves as

What is wrong with you?

[rotary]

 

Perhaps when they return to Thailand they can get jobs on a fishing boat.

I hope Finland never allows Thais to pick berries there again.

 

+/- 20 years ago in Saudi jewels went missing now berries are a problem in Finland with issues. Not great references for overseas employment

[pedro01]

Can't blame them "your money has been sent to Thailand".... yeah, right!

[Tiffer]

Really? Who cares?

Shoe foot other

Cap wear fit

Make your own answers...

[pasak]

Every year it's the same story. Agencies ripping off innocent Issarn workers. They are not represented and noone cares apart from, in this case, as few Finns.

Another good example of "Thai Chuay Thai".

[weegee]

Karma.....what goes round comes around!!!!!!!!!!

[Bluespunk]

"We are in a tight spot, said Hämäläinen. Its difficult to say where we go from here."

Thailand?

[robblok]

Wonder why everyone is so anti Thai.. just because the Thai laws are against foreigners and such does not mean that these Thais here have been treated fairly. If they really were ripped off they have all the rights in the world to fight that. That is a totally different subject from how awful other Thais treat foreigners.

Hard to see the difference for some bitter people.

[tingtongteesood]

Finland should do the same to the Thais that Thailand does to everyone else, Overstay 500 baht per day, arrest and deport....

[Timwin]

In Sweden there was a case in which Thai pickers had a minimum wage set but they sold all the berries to another company and still demanded the salary from the original company! This might the same group trying to pull the same sh*t in Finland too...

Only this group of 50 out of thousands of pickers are demanding somekind of compensations together with the Finnish young (city) communist alliance. The kind of people who think all company owners are capitalistic greedy pigs (except of course their own daddies paying their daily bills . After all, being a champange socialist is hard work!

[rgs2001uk]

Wonder why everyone is so anti Thai.. just because the Thai laws are against foreigners and such does not mean that these Thais here have been treated fairly. If they really were ripped off they have all the rights in the world to fight that. That is a totally different subject from how awful other Thais treat foreigners.

Hard to see the difference for some bitter people.

Good gawd Rob, even you arent that naive.

These Thais I would wager were ripped off in their own country by fellow Thai before ever setting foot at swampy to bia tiaw.

Where are the Thai laws to protect Thais from being ripped off by their fellow country men?

Thai rak Thai, yeah right.

[tingtongfarang]

Why exactly would they take thai workers anyway? To say thais are not famous for their work ethics or performance would be an understatement.

[JJJomtien]

OK, let's put some facts and figures on the table.

First of all the pickers are paid for the amount of berries they pick. They do not receive any fixed salary. Even if they worked on a berry farm they would be paid the same.

As a Finn I do not understand what all the fuss is about. These people demanding pay must have misunderstood the job or somebody in Thailand must have fed them stories about the fortunes to be made picking berries.

In the Nordic countries there are 3 kinds of wild berries that are bought by the industry.

1. Lingonberry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingonberry

Buyers will pay around 1.5 euros/kg for cleaned berries. A professional picker can pick up to 100kg/day. This year the lingonberry harvest has been average.

2. European Blueberry, Bilberry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billberry

Buyers will pay around 3.5 euros/kg for cleaned berries. This year probably more because the harvest has been poor. A good worker can pick around 60kg/day

3. Cloudberry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudberry

Buyers will pay around 10 to12 euros/kg. You need a lot of local knowledge to find cloudberries and they are rare so the chances of Thai pickers finding any are slim.

Picking berries is hard work and you do not always find them. As you can see the money is not great.

[hellodolly]

In Sweden there was a case in which Thai pickers had a minimum wage set but they sold all the berries to another company and still demanded the salary from the original company! This might the same group trying to pull the same sh*t in Finland too...

Only this group of 50 out of thousands of pickers are demanding somekind of compensations together with the Finnish young (city) communist alliance. The kind of people who think all company owners are capitalistic greedy pigs (except of course their own daddies paying their daily bills . After all, being a champange socialist is hard work!

Out of the group of 50 only 20 are saying they did not receive there fair wages. If it is a pay for what you pick the wages will all be different depending on the ability and diligence of the picker. Having picked strawberries in my youth I can definastly say not all are equal to the task. (I did not make much money)

There is definatly more to the story why don't they have an investigative Journalist look into this and find out what they were told they would receive if they came to Finland and was it a Finnish company that they dealt with or a Thai company.

I smell a rat

OK, let's put some facts and figures on the table.

First of all the pickers are paid for the amount of berries they pick. They do not receive any fixed salary. Even if they worked on a berry farm they would be paid the same.

As a Finn I do not understand what all the fuss is about. These people demanding pay must have misunderstood the job or somebody in Thailand must have fed them stories about the fortunes to be made picking berries.

In the Nordic countries there are 3 kinds of wild berries that are bought by the industry.

1. Lingonberry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingonberry

Buyers will pay around 1.5 euros/kg for cleaned berries. A professional picker can pick up to 100kg/day. This year the lingonberry harvest has been average.

2. European Blueberry, Bilberry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billberry

Buyers will pay around 3.5 euros/kg for cleaned berries. This year probably more because the harvest has been poor. A good worker can pick around 60kg/day

3. Cloudberry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudberry

Buyers will pay around 10 to12 euros/kg. You need a lot of local knowledge to find cloudberries and they are rare so the changes of Thai pickers finding any are slim.

Picking berries is hard work and you do not always find them. As you can see the money is not great.

Thank you for the information. The one question that still remains is where they guaranteed a minimum wage?

The 30 who refused to take the flight home obviously were satisfied with the money they received or they would have been with the other 20 complaining about it.

[BarryM]

I picked oranges in Greece as a teenager. 2dr a kilo. We slept rough in disused buildings to save money.

I dont recall any labour rights organisations demanding free flights etc, but I'm just a white bloke from England.

[scorecard]

Every year it's the same story. Agencies ripping off innocent Issarn workers. They are not represented and noone cares apart from, in this case, as few Finns.

Another good example of "Thai Chuay Thai".

Where's labor minister chalerm?

[jbrain]

Every year it's the same story. Agencies ripping off innocent Issarn workers. They are not represented and noone cares apart from, in this case, as few Finns.

Another good example of "Thai Chuay Thai".

Where's labor minister chalerm?

Don't worry about him. he's embarrassing people as usual

[noitom]

It's a certainty that some Thai broker is waving around some sort of contract to have the Fins pay into his account directly. There is always some sort of a squabble with Thais when it comes to contracts, agreements, and money. Thais are famous for exclaiming when they short pay, "well what we meant by the contract you are showing us is not what it says in the contract that we signed."

[kuiburi]

Wonder what might happen if the Burmese / Cambodian fishermen tried the same stunt in the major fishing ports regarding the treatment and with holding of their wages, here in Thailand. Do you think the Thai authorities would be a sympathetic as the Finnish??

Yeah - stupid question we know the answer already - bullet to the head, anyone else want to complain? Good. Now back to work! - Job done

I pity the 'eternal victims', the Thai portray themselves as

What is wrong with you?

Sadly nothing wrong with what he says , just count the corpses washing up on the beaches every year . This year we only had 1 headless corps on our beach .Clothes he was wearing where Birmese .

[LuckyLew]

Every year it's the same story. Agencies ripping off innocent Issarn workers. They are not represented and noone cares apart from, in this case, as few Finns.

Another good example of "Thai Chuay Thai".

Then why do they keep falling for the same thing?

If it is too good to be true ...............

[thhMan]

Just apply the same rules as Thailand does. Job finish/terminated, 7 days to get out as visa is now not valid.

[hellodolly]

Every year it's the same story. Agencies ripping off innocent Issarn workers. They are not represented and noone cares apart from, in this case, as few Finns.

Another good example of "Thai Chuay Thai".

Then why do they keep falling for the same thing?

If it is too good to be true ...............

Do you honestly think that if they had the education you do they would sign the contract.

You are in Thailand now. Have you not noticed the lack of education in the education system?

[thhMan]

Every year it's the same story. Agencies ripping off innocent Issarn workers. They are not represented and noone cares apart from, in this case, as few Finns.

Another good example of "Thai Chuay Thai".

Then why do they keep falling for the same thing?

If it is too good to be true ...............

Do you honestly think that if they had the education you do they would sign the contract.

You are in Thailand now. Have you not noticed the lack of education in the education system?

I agree, however, is it the Fin company that is to blame for their lack of education?