After a three day strike by Vietnamese berry pickers in western Sweden, a handful have decided to return to Vietnam. The six guest workers, part of a group of 120 from both North and South Vietnam, say that they had been deceived by their recruiters, who promised them larger quantities of berries than what they’ve been able to pick.
But Nguyen Ngoc Lam, representative for the Vietnamese recruitment company TTLC, says that “they have to work harder.” Local newspaper Värmlands Folkblad reports that a group of Thai workers in the same area have not had any problems filling their quotas.
The workers say they were told they could pick between 60 and 120 kilos berries per day, but they’ve only been able to manage 10 to 30 kilos, severely cutting into their expected profits.
The Swedish Forestberry Association blames the strike on this year’s bad blueberry crop. The Association’s director, Ivan Harnesk, told news wire TT that the discontent among berry pickers this year is greater than usual. The bad feelings have arisen, he says, partly because “people had expected a better crop of berries, and partly because the recession has pushed berry prices down.”
About 6,000 foreign berry pickers have been working in Sweden this year.
