Inspections uncover serious problems at Thai berry picker camps

Inspections have found illegal deposits and wage payment problems at camps for Thai berry pickers run by companies from the construction, IT and management consultancy sectors, Yle reports. Workers were not paid the wages they had been promised.

The problems have emerged as inexperienced companies have entered Finland’s berry industry while established operators have faced difficulties. The Foreign Ministry denied almost all seasonal work visas for Thai nationals this summer because of uncertainty in the sector.

Yle obtained 15 occupational safety inspection reports from Finland’s Permit and Supervisory Agency and the former Regional State Administrative Agencies. The reports covered inspections of 12 companies, with two reports concerning inspections carried out last year.

The most serious problems involved two companies that had recently entered the industry. One was registered as providing other equipment and information technology services, while the other was registered as offering other management consultancy. Neither company’s registered business activities mentioned berries or other food products.

Both companies were registered in Helsinki, while their camps for Thai berry pickers were located in Kainuu. Under Finnish law, a company may not operate permanently in fields other than those listed in its registered business activities. Expanding the business activities of a limited company requires a registration change with the Finnish Patent and Registration Office.

In August last year, officials and Oulu police carried out an unannounced inspection at one of the companies’ berry camps. According to the inspection report, pickers had been charged deposits that were considered illegal. The money was to be returned only after the berry season ended.

Pickers must be free to decide when to enter or leave Finland without financial penalties. The inspectors also found that the workers did not have a genuine opportunity to sell the products they collected to other buyers and had not received the required instruction. A regional state administrative inspector issued the company with operational guidance.

A second inspection report concerning the same company found that people working as cooks and weighers were described by the company as light entrepreneurs but were considered by officials to be employees. The company had not kept records of their working hours and had not paid wages or overtime and other compensation required under collective agreements.

Another inspected company also had wage payment problems. Employees had not been paid wages or overtime supplements required under the applicable collective agreement. The company said the shortcomings resulted from a lack of information, because the industry and the applicable collective agreement were entirely new to the employer.

Officials also issued improvement notices to a company that had recently entered the berry industry and was registered as operating in the construction of residential and other buildings. Its registered place of business was in eastern Finland.