Thousands of Thai berry-pickers would again be welcomed to Finland

By Minna Passi
      Berry farms and suppliers would like to invite thousands of seasonal workers from Thailand to Finland to pick wild berries next summer.
      According to First Secretary Vesa Häkkinen from the Unit for Passports and Visas at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, a total of 3,500 pre-qualification assessments for visas to Finland have so far been submitted to the Finnish representation in Bangkok.
      Häkkinen predicts that only some 1,900 visas are likely to be granted for this summer, which is the same number as last year. This is mainly because the representation has limited resources.
      ”Neither staff nor premises have been increased. In practice, they do just what they can in addition to their normal workload”, notes Häkkinen.
     
Häkkinen points out that there would not even be any sense in granting unlimited numbers of visas.
      ”Last year we were informed that depending on the enterprise in question some 12 to 61 per cent of berry-pickers returned home indebted. In other words they could not earn enough to break even, let alone turn a profit on their trip”, Häkkinen reports.
      Häkkinen adds that the problem evidently is that the farther away the berry-pickers come from, the higher the related expenses are. A flight ticket alone costs more than a berry-picker’s annual income would be in Thailand.
      In addition, the picker has to pay for a visa and possibly even a fee to an agent in Thailand. In Finland he or she has to pay for accommodation, transport, petrol, and food.
     
”The process involves unscrupulous collection of money at nearly every stage. I regard it as a kind of extortion. It is not trafficking in human beings but it is something similar. Juridically, everybody comes here at their own risk, like self-financing entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, it is a major ethical issue”, Häkkinen notes.
      ”By no means do I wish to label those [companies] who invite these people here. Surely they mean well, but when the outcome is what it is, it sounds absurd that they want to invite even more pickers than before”, Häkkinen says with some astonishment.
     
A total of some 12,000 foreign berry-pickers arrive in Finland every year. Most of them come from the neighbouring areas of Russia and the Baltic States.
      The Ministry for Foreign Affairs recommends that berry farms should increasingly hire pickers who come from the neighbouring countries. Then it would be easier to react to the situation if the prospects for the berry crop appear to be worse than usual.
      ”Last year the season was poor, but it is never possible to know the situation in advance. When berry-pickers come to Finland from far-off countries with high hopes of earning money, and the berry-picking season turns out to be worse than expected, they have no money for a return trip”, Häkkinen argues.
     
The Ombudsman for Minorities, Johanna Suurpää, has also paid attention to the situation of Thai berry-pickers.
      ”The aim is to think profoundly whether the Finnish visa policy should be reconsidered. For example, those companies who invite berry-pickers could be made responsible for reasonable conditions and some kind of compensation for the pickers expenses”, Suurpää contemplates.
      Potential recommendations are to be made before the summer.
     
Most seasonal Thai workers come to Finland in order to pick wild berries. In practice, berry farms and berry processing companies invite berry-pickers to Finland and then buy the berries they have picked.
      The income may be low if the berry crop remains poor, but if the season is good, many can earn a year’s income from picking wild blueberries and lingonberries and selling them to berry buyers.
     
Thai berry-pickers are preferred as they are in a league of their own, says Export Manager Ben Strömsten from Riitan Herkku, a food processing company in Mustasaari near Vaasa.
      ”They are diligent pickers and easy team members, which cannot always be said of those foreign workers who come from the neighbouring areas”, Strömsten reports.
      Strömsten adds that last year most of the 400 Thai pickers working for Riitan Herkku managed to cover their costs and to have a nice amount of money left over to take back home.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 1.3.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish strawberry growers prefer foreign berry pickers (12.6.2007)
  Thai berry-pickers return home after earning year´s salary in Lapland (4.10.2006)
  Thai berry-pickers are welcome in Finnish Lapland (1.8.2006)
  Hundreds of Estonians pick mushrooms and berries for Finnish market (12.8.2008)
  First blueberry day exceeds expectations for Thai pickers (7.8.2007)

See also:
  Foreign berry-pickers put on spot by empty promises and poor crop in Lapland (4.8.2006)

Links:
  Riitan Herkku Oy