Sweden, Finland recruit fewer Thai berry pickers this year

[webfact]

Sweden, Finland recruit fewer Thai berry pickers this year



BANGKOK: -- The quota of almost 6,000 Thai berry pickers employed to work in Sweden and Finland this harvesting season has been filled, according to Thailand’s Ministry of Labour. The Nordic countries issued significantly fewer visas for seasonal workers from Thailand this year. berrypickers

Sumet Sumetho, director general of the Employment Department, said all 5,924 workers had been granted visas and travelled to the Nordic countries under the official quota arranged by the ministry.

“No additional workers will be recruited to work as berry-pickers in Sweden and Finland for the current harvesting season,” he said.

The official quota system was put in place to prevent unscrupulous Thai recruitment agencies from scamming Thai workers by charging exhorbitant fees, promising non-existent berry-picking jobs in those countries.

Sweden granted a total of 3,325 visas for seasonal workers from Thailand, or only half of 2013. Finland granted 2,599 visas for Thai berry-pickers, down by 616 compared to that of the previous year.

Each of the Thai berry-pickers paid THB75,000 to cover expenses related to passport and visa applications and health insurance. They are promised the equivalence of about THB91,000 per month provided that they meet the agreed minimum quantities of berries.

But while there, the Thai berry-pickers are required to pay for food, lodging and transport. The typical berry picking season lasts 75 days from July to September.

Source: http://scandasia.com/sweden-finland-recruit-fewer-thai-berry-pickers-this-year/

-- ScandAsia 2014-07-31

[Ricardo]

Hope the hopeful temporary-workers can make a profit, as a result of these overdue-steps.

[useronthenet]

Personally I think those jobs should be filled by other Europeans, I'm not sure why Scandinavia is handing over jobs to Thais ?

[Gunna]

"Each of the Thai berry-pickers paid THB75,000 to cover expenses related to passport and visa applications and health insurance. They are promised the equivalence of about THB91,000 per month provided that they meet the agreed minimum quantities of berries.

But while there, the Thai berry-pickers are required to pay for food, lodging and transport. The typical berry picking season lasts 75 days from July to September."

 

So the most they can gross is 2.5 x 91,000bt =227,500bt less 75,000bt = 152,500bt

then less 2.5 months of food, lodging & transport in 2 of the most expensive countries in the world

Plus they probably had to borrow the 75,000 at exorbitant interest rates.

 

Can't see that many will have much left by the time they return and pay their debt

 

More of a money making scam scam for middle men

 I also wonder how many overstay there visas or find extra work on the side

[MK1]

Why Thai pickers? Is it because Thai people are less prone to eating the fruits of their labour as opposed to others or are they better hunters and gatherers?

[Kudel]

Personally I think those jobs should be filled by other Europeans, I'm not sure why Scandinavia is handing over jobs to Thais ?

I dont see the point either most fruit farmers in the European Union use Polish people to do the fruit picking.No hassle with visas and expensive flight tickets.

[Bullie]

They will be lucky if they can go home and still have some change in their pockets after working for 75 days from dawn to dusk, 7 days a week. Even for the average northern European Sweden is an extremely expensive country.

[Kudel]

Dont they have unions in Sweden and Finland monitoring the working conditions for migrant workers ? i mean this is 2014 slave labour in Europe?

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

I read a test in a Swedish magazine regarding how many litres of berries the different nationalities averaged picked in one day and the Thais were picking 3 times the amount compared to what the Poles and the other Europeans did! they said that they were used walking all day on the rice fields with bend backs, when you pick fruit whole day you hurt your back after if are tall or not used to it. 

[h90]

"Each of the Thai berry-pickers paid THB75,000 to cover expenses related to passport and visa applications and health insurance. They are promised the equivalence of about THB91,000 per month provided that they meet the agreed minimum quantities of berries.

But while there, the Thai berry-pickers are required to pay for food, lodging and transport. The typical berry picking season lasts 75 days from July to September."

 

So the most they can gross is 2.5 x 91,000bt =227,500bt less 75,000bt = 152,500bt

then less 2.5 months of food, lodging & transport in 2 of the most expensive countries in the world

Plus they probably had to borrow the 75,000 at exorbitant interest rates.

 

Can't see that many will have much left by the time they return and pay their debt

 

More of a money making scam scam for middle men

 I also wonder how many overstay there visas or find extra work on the side

 

Something wrong, for that money you would get plenty European berry pickers. Romania, Bulgaria, Greece....who all don't need the expensive flight ticket.

[DrTuner]

Personally I think those jobs should be filled by other Europeans, I'm not sure why Scandinavia is handing over jobs to Thais ?

Ever picked berries ? It's a backbreaking job, much the same as planting rice. They don't want to do it, so lot of the berries are left to rot in the forests.

[Kudel]

I read a test in a Swedish magazine regarding how many litres of berries the different nationalities averaged picked in one day and the Thais were picking 3 times the amount compared to what the Poles and the other Europeans did! they said that they were used walking all day on the rice fields with bend backs, when you pick fruit whole day you hurt your back after if are tall or not used to it. [/size]

So thats a nice way to circumvent the law so no Insurance claims can be made when said labourers suffer from back injuries,In Europe it is stated how much a manual labourer can carry on his back and courses manual handling are given to employees under pressure of Insurance companys .
I have personally seen employees of macro in Buriram who stack shelves wearing special back supporting belts provided by macro.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

perman

 

I read a test in a Swedish magazine regarding how many litres of berries the different nationalities averaged picked in one day and the Thais were picking 3 times the amount compared to what the Poles and the other Europeans did! they said that they were used walking all day on the rice fields with bend backs, when you pick fruit whole day you hurt your back after if are tall or not used to it. [/size]

So thats a nice way to circumvent the law so no Insurance claims can be made when said labourers suffer from back injuries,In Europe it is stated how much a manual labourer can carry on his back and courses manual handling are given to employees under pressure of Insurance companys .
I have personally seen employees of macro in Buriram who stack shelves wearing special back supporting belts provided by macro.

 

 

I am not sure what their contracts says about work related injuries, but as temporary staff they could left out in the cold if something happens. I know the labour laws in Scandinavia are very good for protecting permant workers regarding things like this.

[Prbkk]

I read a test in a Swedish magazine regarding how many litres of berries the different nationalities averaged picked in one day and the Thais were picking 3 times the amount compared to what the Poles and the other Europeans did! they said that they were used walking all day on the rice fields with bend backs, when you pick fruit whole day you hurt your back after if are tall or not used to it. 

Yes, indeed. There was an article in the NYT a couple of weeks ago about Thai pickers working in Portugal. The farmers were bemoaning the fact that it's impossible to get young Portuguese to work ( notwithstanding the 35% youth unemployment) and saying that Thais are the most diligent and productive of all the imported labour nationalities...by a wide margin Edited July 31, 2014 by Prbkk

[larsjohnsson]

Personally I think those jobs should be filled by other Europeans, I'm not sure why Scandinavia is handing over jobs to Thais ?

They are not handling over jobs. Anyone that liks to pick berries or anything else in the forest are allowed to do it

[larsjohnsson]

Dont they have unions in Sweden and Finland monitoring the working conditions for migrant workers ? i mean this is 2014 slave labour in Europe?

Obviously you have never heard about "allemansrätten" in Sweden. Google it. It's ok for anyone to pick berries, mushroom, fruit or other things in the forrest in Sweden. Even if it's a privat own forrest it's allowed

[larsjohnsson]

They will be lucky if they can go home and still have some change in their pockets after working for 75 days from dawn to dusk, 7 days a week. Even for the average northern European Sweden is an extremely expensive country.

Yes most of them don't make any money. Some even lose money on the trip. But that has nothing to do with Sweden is expensive to live in. They sleep in the forrest. They make their own food. And only buy the cheapest things for survival.

[larsjohnsson]

I read a test in a Swedish magazine regarding how many litres of berries the different nationalities averaged picked in one day and the Thais were picking 3 times the amount compared to what the Poles and the other Europeans did! they said that they were used walking all day on the rice fields with bend backs, when you pick fruit whole day you hurt your back after if are tall or not used to it. 

A native local berry picker will easily pick twice as much as a Thai picker. The main thing is to find the good berry picking spots. And the Thais don't have a clue where those are. That's more important than working hard

[Payboy]

Does this mean the Swedes have to come to Thailand to get their berries picked?

[teatree]

 

Personally I think those jobs should be filled by other Europeans, I'm not sure why Scandinavia is handing over jobs to Thais ?

I dont see the point either most fruit farmers in the European Union use Polish people to do the fruit picking.No hassle with visas and expensive flight tickets.

 

 

And now Romanians and Bulgarians too.

 

Although I suspect Thais will work for less money.

[DrTuner]

Does this mean the Swedes have to come to Thailand to get their berries picked?

That does explain why there are so many of them .. 

[Tomtomtom69]

 

Personally I think those jobs should be filled by other Europeans, I'm not sure why Scandinavia is handing over jobs to Thais ?

I dont see the point either most fruit farmers in the European Union use Polish people to do the fruit picking.No hassle with visas and expensive flight tickets.

 

 

I agree, I mean to be fair Thailand should also recruit Swedes to be rice farmers, lol.

 

But yeah seriously why wouldn't Eastern Europeans be picking berries in Scandinavia? I mean while Western Europeans might be too lazy to do back breaking labor, Eastern Europeans would be happy to do the work. I'm quite sure the unemployment rate is not that low in many Eastern European countries such as Poland so it seems like a ridiculous move to bring in non-EU foreigners from far away taking away jobs from EU nationals. Nearly 6000 Thais working in berry picking to me is still a sky high figure, even if it's lower than last year.

 

The only Thais that should be picking berries in Scandinavia should be Thai university students who are allowed to work during their summer holidays, so perhaps 50 people. Everyone else should be from the EU or perhaps even Russia, they're closer and many Russians are quite poor and need jobs too. This whole scheme seems strange...especially given that in Thailand itself similar work is now being almost entirely performed by foreigners from Myanmar, Cambodia and to a lesser extent, Laos. Whole plantations don't have a single Thai picking or planting whatever fruit/vegetable that is being grown in many parts of Thailand. Is the reason for that because these 5924 Thais have "fled" to Finland and Sweden to pick berries at the expense of local labor in Thailand?

[mikecat]

Call it what you like, I call it exploitation.

 

[noitom]

Thai have no sense of cost/income justification. They see only the "offered" price. They never are able to calculate "profit" Thais do not have the intellect to realize that it is about net gain on a project like this. They see only the 91,000/month. They don't even have the intellect to run that out and see it's only 2.5 months. Thais also have "no missed opportunity" factor so they are always eager to get on a boat and chase the 91,000 never thinking about costs or what else they could be doing.

[DrTuner]

Call it what you like, I call it exploitation.

AFAIK the locals get the same price/kg for the berries they pick. Most won't bother, because the pay is relatively low when you're living in Finland/Sweden. For Thais is comparatively good salary, since they'll be using it in Thailand after they return. It's just a remote job, nothing evil. 

[Kudel]

 

Call it what you like, I call it exploitation.

AFAIK the locals get the same price/kg for the berries they pick. Most won't bother, because the pay is relatively low when you're living in Finland/Sweden. For Thais is comparatively good salary, since they'll be using it in Thailand after they return. It's just a remote job, nothing evil. 

 

Yes and two years in a row i have read about so called Thai berry pickers being exploited in said countrys on here and also by their respective recruitment agencys in Thailand i still dont understand how such slave labour is still allowed in Europe.

[RTH10260]

"Each of the Thai berry-pickers paid THB75,000 to cover expenses related to passport and visa applications and health insurance. They are promised the equivalence of about THB91,000 per month provided that they meet the agreed minimum quantities of berries.

But while there, the Thai berry-pickers are required to pay for food, lodging and transport. The typical berry picking season lasts 75 days from July to September."
 
So the most they can gross is 2.5 x 91,000bt =227,500bt less 75,000bt = 152,500bt
then less 2.5 months of food, lodging & transport in 2 of the most expensive countries in the world
Plus they probably had to borrow the 75,000 at exorbitant interest rates.
 
Can't see that many will have much left by the time they return and pay their debt
 
More of a money making scam scam for middle men
 I also wonder how many overstay there visas or find extra work on the side

 
Something wrong, for that money you would get plenty European berry pickers. Romania, Bulgaria, Greece....who all don't need the expensive flight ticket.

With current unemployment rates possibly the reason why the number of Thai visas is down.

[larsjohnsson]

 

Personally I think those jobs should be filled by other Europeans, I'm not sure why Scandinavia is handing over jobs to Thais ?

I dont see the point either most fruit farmers in the European Union use Polish people to do the fruit picking.No hassle with visas and expensive flight tickets.
 

 
I agree, I mean to be fair Thailand should also recruit Swedes to be rice farmers, lol.
 
But yeah seriously why wouldn't Eastern Europeans be picking berries in Scandinavia? I mean while Western Europeans might be too lazy to do back breaking labor, Eastern Europeans would be happy to do the work. I'm quite sure the unemployment rate is not that low in many Eastern European countries such as Poland so it seems like a ridiculous move to bring in non-EU foreigners from far away taking away jobs from EU nationals. Nearly 6000 Thais working in berry picking to me is still a sky high figure, even if it's lower than last year.
 
The only Thais that should be picking berries in Scandinavia should be Thai university students who are allowed to work during their summer holidays, so perhaps 50 people. Everyone else should be from the EU or perhaps even Russia, they're closer and many Russians are quite poor and need jobs too. This whole scheme seems strange...especially given that in Thailand itself similar work is now being almost entirely performed by foreigners from Myanmar, Cambodia and to a lesser extent, Laos. Whole plantations don't have a single Thai picking or planting whatever fruit/vegetable that is being grown in many parts of Thailand. Is the reason for that because these 5924 Thais have "fled" to Finland and Sweden to pick berries at the expense of local labor in Thailand?

You still don't get it. Anybody is allowed to go out in any forrest in Sweden and pick berries. You don't need any work permit. Any tourist are allowed to do it. You don't need any company, WP or being employed. And thousends of people from Sweden also do it. No forrest owners can stop people from sleeping on their land. Or picking their berries.
The agents try to cheat those poor Thai people. Most of the agents are Thai. But there are also Swedish agents involved. The government and unions help the Thai workers every year. With getting their money and other things. They also tell them that they can't make any big money so their is no point in coming back. But the next year there will be new pickers fooled by the agents. Edited July 31, 2014 by larsjohnsson

[RTH10260]

 

Call it what you like, I call it exploitation.

AFAIK the locals get the same price/kg for the berries they pick. Most won't bother, because the pay is relatively low when you're living in Finland/Sweden. For Thais is comparatively good salary, since they'll be using it in Thailand after they return. It's just a remote job, nothing evil. 
 

Yes and two years in a row i have read about so called Thai berry pickers being exploited in said countrys on here and also by their respective recruitment agencys in Thailand i still dont understand how such slave labour is still allowed in Europe.

I guess Sweden and Finnland have no control over Thai local emloyment agencies. The countries only offer job opportunities by granting a number of visas. They are not active in selecting the applicants. The Thai sharks exploit the opportunity of the likely uneducated workers. It's up to the Thai government to regulate the job market.

[jspill]

 

They are not handling over jobs. Anyone that liks to pick berries or anything else in the forest are allowed to do it

 

 

Sarcasm lost on you again.