Twenty-five Thai berry pickers have refused to board their flight from Helsinki to Bangkok after their employer Ber-Ex Öy moved their flight tickets forward because of visa issues.
The berry pickers, who have been working in Suolahti, Central Finland, issued a press release saying that despite their flight dates being changed, they will not board the plane. The berry pickers argue that the company is pressuring them and denying the legal rights and compensation.
Berry pickers working in Finland in the past have claimed they were unable to pick the number of berries required to earn the amount of money they were promised. The latest group organised a group meeting in Suolahti on Saturday to discuss their situation amid concerns they would not be able to pay Ber-Ex their debts on top of travel expenses.
However, the company’s chief executive officer Kari Jansa has been shocked by the workers’ claims. He said his Ber-Ex had to move the return flights forward as the berry pickers were not complying with the visa regulations. He explained that they were on berry picking visas, but now they were refusing to pick berries they had to go back to Thailand.
He also said he would not be paying set salaries to workers, insisting that they will be paid for how many kilos of berries they pick. He explained that as it is tax-free income, salaries would only lower the incomes of a large number of berry pickers as they’d be forced to pay tax.
Jansa claims this particular group of workers has performed poorly and that he feels many of them travel to Finland in the hope of securing a guaranteed salary.