Thai friend want to help planting strawberries

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SabaiSabai
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Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:41 am

Thai friend want to help planting strawberries

Post by SabaiSabai » Mon Oct 12, 2009 3:23 am

Hello there,

i am pretty new to this forum but have a big question already.

I am european, living in Thailand.
Yesterday my Thai friend told me that her sister was working in Finland harvesting strawberries and that the company wants to employ people now for planting them for the next season.
My friend was asking me to help her to sort out some things.

1. Is it true that Thai nationals can apply for a job like this in Finland?
2. Is it true that the payment is 50 EUR per day for planting strawberries?
3. Is there a list of strawberry farmers that i can download from anywhere to see them all?
4. Can my friend trust the employer that she will be treated well, not to be enforced to deliver any other "services"?

I am happy for an information that i can get here as i will pass it to my friend so that she can decide mor confidend to go to Finland.

Thank you very much in advance.



Thai friend want to help planting strawberries

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rinso
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Joined: Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:22 pm

Re: Thai friend want to help planting strawberries

Post by rinso » Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:41 am

1. probably
2. pickers are often payed per hour. So on a full day of back breaking work you might earn € 50,-. But the big question is; "how many of those days are needed?"
Don't expect a full month of work out of it.
3. Not that I know of.
4. I don't think she has to be afraid for "other services". But treated well in a general sense ....?

Rosamunda
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Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2004 12:07 am

Re: Thai friend want to help planting strawberries

Post by Rosamunda » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:58 am

Why can't your friend get this information from her sister as she has already been here doing that work?

It seems a little late to start planting strawberries now. Snow is forecast in the next 24h even in southern Finland. If your friend does decide to come up here in the next few weeks then she will need some seriously warm clothes.

I thought that the special visa regulations applied to PICKING berries not planting but, our local plant nursery employed a lot of workers from the Far East this summer so I guess the regulations must apply more widely than just picking fruit.

I vaguely remember a post on here where somebody was ranting profusely about being over-worked, under-paid and poorly housed/fed etc at a strawberry farm, so if you use the search engine you might find that thread and the name of the farm. But on the whole I think the workers are quite well-treated. The Sunday edition of Helsingin Sanomat (national newspaper) ran a big article about the berry-pickers this weekend. I didn't read it all but they seemed kind of happy.

inkku
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Re: Thai friend want to help planting strawberries

Post by inkku » Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:30 pm

penelope wrote: The Sunday edition of Helsingin Sanomat (national newspaper) ran a big article about the berry-pickers this weekend. I didn't read it all but they seemed kind of happy.
I read it, it was very interesting. The best ones earned e3000 in two months (ie e1500 a month), they had been here before and knew well in what kind of terrain the berries grow. The average was around e1500-2000 for two months, the unlucky ones had a car accident and ended up with a debt. Thai berry pickers get paid the same amounts as anybody else, but naturally the expenses from Thailand are far higher. They had paid e1500 to the agent for tickets, permits etc. In Finland they had to pay around e20 daily for expenses such as accommodation and basic food items. I do not think there is any risk about "services", I understood the Thai people lived and worked as a group and had very little contact with Finnish people in general.

I understood they worked every single day from early morning for around 12 hours. It is hard work, and it can be cold in the forest. This year was an exceptionally good for berries, but it is always a risk. I believe last year berry pickers got very small earnings, if any.

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onkko
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Re: Thai friend want to help planting strawberries

Post by onkko » Mon Oct 12, 2009 2:58 pm

http://users.pelikaista.net/~onkko/thai1.jpg
http://users.pelikaista.net/~onkko/thai4.jpg

Theres other story about thai berrypickers from local paper, its in finnish tho and i cba to translate :)
Caesare weold Graecum, ond Caelic Finnum

Rosamunda
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Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2004 12:07 am

Re: Thai friend want to help planting strawberries

Post by Rosamunda » Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:00 pm

The Helsinki Sanomat article on the berry pickers has been translated into English in this week's international edition:

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/A+long ... 5249991322

Tiwaz
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Re: Thai friend want to help planting strawberries

Post by Tiwaz » Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:07 am

Now, correct me if I am wrong... But I have distinct feeling that strawberry, after planted, will live pretty long time if taken care of.

So I really do not see big opening for strawberry planting. So in my view, this offer sounds pretty odd.

Rosamunda
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Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2004 12:07 am

Re: Thai friend want to help planting strawberries

Post by Rosamunda » Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:06 pm

You can leave strawberry plants in the ground for several years but on a commercial scale they are prone to diseases so are generally replanted every 3-4 years.


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