WORKERS' DREAMS SHATTERED
Collecting blueberries and cranberries in Sweden is popular among Thais who travel there to work, but contains hidden traps.
Thais, especially from northeastern provinces such as Udon Thani, Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Khon Kaen provinces, pay hundreds of thousands of baht to companies or brokers to get them work in Sweden.
They hope to get the money back from their earnings picking berries in Swedish forests.
Because the fruit grows naturally and widely in vast tracts of forest, picking them tree by tree is hard work. The Swedes shun this kind of labour, which opens opportunities for foreign workers, including Thais. "Thai workers have patience," says a Labour Ministry source who visited workers picking berries there.
The work is similar to planting rice, which they do in their home country. They have to bend and stretch often.
Thais are keen on the work, as they can make good money.
The Employment Department may have over-sold this kind of overseas work to Thais, because they usually make less than they are promised.
The department has told workers that the fruit can sell for up to 30-40 crowns a kilogramme (150-200 baht/kg) and that collectors can pick an average of 60kg a day.
But the source said the current price was only 10 crowns a kilogramme and average pickings were only 20kg/day.
In 2006, the Swedish government imposed a tax of 57.28% on wild fruit sales. However, after complaints from businessmen and fruit collectors it struck a compromise.
In 2007, the Sweden Forest Berries Association (SBIF) invited foreign companies to do the fruit-collecting work, with a tax exemption offered to foreign fruit collectors.
Companies which recruit workers to pick fruit in Sweden are not legal employers, but merely labour brokers which charge high fees. Nor are they responsible for workers' travel, living expenses, or working conditions.
Bangkok Post Aug. 30, 2009