Johanna Wimby-Schmidt Peace and Development 2FU31E Bachelor Thesis
Linnaeus University, 2013-11-27
Blueberries of Wrath
Abstract
In the early 21st Century Sweden’s daily press was full of articles of Asian migrant workers that was picking berries in the north of the country. It was reported that the pickers was exploited by the industry and that it was complete chaos in the berry forests and that no one wanted to take responsible for the situation. As one measurement the Swedish Board of Migration adopted guidelines of how to import work force. The guidelines had a positive effect. The guidelines, however, also created a new problem a now shifted focus to another group of pickers: migrant workers from poor member-states of the European Union. This research partly aims to find out who is the responsible for the situation and who can do something that can improve the situation. Further, the research aim to find out why so many Easter European chose Sweden as country to work in, and then if the Swedish Board of Migrations guidelines actual effect of the migration flow. As a part of a solution for the berry pickers a few organization stands out, namely the ones that a company can use to clean their name with if they connect themselves to. This research then also aim to understand to find out if those organizations can make a positive impact of the situation. Mainly daily press has been used as the main source to create a framework over the situation. The analysis is made from the statements found in the large share of different sources available, but also through Swedish rules, politicians and the workers and theories of migration. In order to put the situation in Sweden in a larger context, a comparison with Austria is made.
The final conclusion of the research is somehow devastating. There is still a hassle to understand who can be put in charge of the wheel, but the aftermath is that in the end the actor with most power in the industry might be the consumer of the berries.
Table of content:
1 Introduction ... 4
1.1 Introduction to the current problem in the Swedish blueberry industry ... 5
1.2 Research Questions ... 7
1.3 Aim and purpose of research ... 7
1.4 Ethical considerations ... 8
1.5 Limitations and delimitations ... 9
1.6 Structure of study ... 10
2 Literature review and theoretical concepts ... 11
2.1 Labor Migration and the push and pull factors ... 11
2.2 Reports from Swedwatch ... 12
2.3 Forced Labor Migrant Berry Pickers in Sweden ... 12
2.4 UN Global Compact ... 13 3 Method ... 14 3.1 Methodological Tools ... 15 3.2 Sources ... 15 3.2.1 Relevance of Sources ... 16 4 Research Results ... 17 4.1 History ... 19 4.1.1 Before 2010 ... 19 4.1.2 2010 ... 20 4.1.3 2011 ... 21 4.1.4 2012 ... 22
4.2 Problems and recognitions in the industry ... 24
4.2.1 A Replaceable Workforce ... 25
4.2.3 Human Trafficking and Staffing Companies ... 25
4.2.4 A lot of pickers but little berries (2012) ... 27
4.2.5 The fair trade discussion ... 28
4.3 Why migration? ... 29
4.4 The Swedish Board of Migrations guidelines ... 32
4.4.1 The Aliens Act (2005:716) ... 32
4.5 The demography change and effects of the guidelines ... 33
4.6 Austria – a comparative case ... 34
4.6.1 Migrant and seasonal work in Austria ... 34
4.6.2 Regulations in the European Union ... 36
1 Introduction
As the title suggests, this work is about blueberries. If the reader is acquainted within American classic literature they might also understand what kind of issue this research will connect with the blueberries.
In the novel Grapes of Wrath the Nobel prize-awarded author John Steinbeck tells the story about the Joad family that lives in Oklahoma during The Big Depression. The family’s livelihood is farming, but due to the financial crisis, aridity and exploiting lenders the family gets evicted from their home, farm and livelihood. The Joad family is given flyers about sunny California where there is an abundance of jobs on grape plantations and where the happiness and fortune are waiting for them.
The Joad family, just as well as many other thousand expelled and poor families are taking the step to migrate to California to meet the fortune. The fortune is however glowing with its absence. Once in place in California there is not an abundance of job. In fact, there are not enough jobs and the ones offered are highly underpaid and ungrateful. The greedy plantation owners are nevertheless satisfied; the workers are begging for jobs and are in desperate need of money, which make them willing to work for almost nothing. The migrant worker, or “okies” as they are called in local slang engage in collective resistance and strikes, however with little success. The story about the Joad family ends in the middle of a misery, pouring rain and without solidarity from the land lords, but nevertheless from their fellows (Steinbeck 1941).
In Sweden during the 21st Century we could suddenly draw multiple parallels with Steinbeck’s 1920’s North America. Sunny California was in this new story replaced with the Swedish countryside, summer, and an illusion of forests that are full of sun-ripe berries1. We heard about poor people that were on one side fooled (in many cases by greedy, exploiting lenders) but on the other hand also of free will had made the choice to come to Sweden for seasonal work. We heard about thousands of migrant workers in the Swedish berry forests, who were suffering of low or no salaries and treated unwell by the industry.
1 The research will first and foremost mention blueberries, however, both lingonberries and cloudberries are
1.1 Introduction to the current problem in the Swedish blueberry industry The Swedish Right of Public Access2 (Allemansrätten) make it possible for anyone to enjoy and pick the berries in the Swedish forests3. The right to pick berries is independently if the intentions are to eat them at home in a bowl of cold milk, or if the intention is to sell your harvest to the food industry. The Right of Public Access, among other things, makes it difficult to clarify who is actually responsible for work that is accomplished in the berry forests. For the same reason, there are no owners of the berries, and it is rather the rule first come first served that is in force in the berry forests.
The last decade we have seen a returning reporting from media during the summer months; exploitation of the foreign guest workers in the Swedish blueberry4 forests. The reporting, as well as the number of guest workers, has been increasing and it includes problems such as human trafficking, discrimination, insufficient working conditions, communication problems between the different actors in the sector, littering in the forests etc.
The last years (2008-2012) the Swedish Board of Migration has strengthened their own guidelines for employing non-European berry pickers, this in order to clean up the industry from exploiting the berry-picking work force. Several actors in the industry, researchers and the Board of Migration claims that the guidelines have given a positive effect on the situation for the non-Europeans working in the business (Migrationsverket12 2012). We can from the Board of Migrations rhetoric think that they believe that a problem has been solved.
Several reports from media and researches nevertheless found evidence that the new guidelines had created a new problem within the sector. Meanwhile the guidelines made it more difficult to hire a non-European workforce; it opened up a market to use workers from other EU-membership states as pickers instead. The EU-workers obey under the rules of the European Union and hence the freedom of movement. Hence they are allowed to without restrictions come to Sweden, pick berries and sell them to the merchandisers in the industry. This is a very common type of informal employment and this type of workers is referred to as
2 Also translated to ”Freedom to Roam”
3 The Right of Public Access also exist in Norway and Finland, as well as a few other countries in the world.
4 The correct English word for Swedish blueberries is Bilberries. However, to restrain confusions for the reader
‘independent pickers’5. Most of the Swedish pickers that exist are also working as independent pickers. The Swedish board of Migration does hence not have influence on the situation and working conditions for the independent pickers6. The non EU-pickers are not allowed to work as independent pickers, since they need a work permit and that can only be granted when there is a formal employment.
What seems necessary in the Swedish berry industry according to many of the actors involved in the issues is the establishment of a collective corporate social responsibility with a stricter monitoring of the distributors and merchant intermediate agents buying the berries from the independent pickers. A couple of companies in Sweden that are distributing Swedish berries are connected to a global corporate social responsibility initiative. This is namely The United Nations Global Compact and it is a policy initiative that businesses and companies can be connected to and hence show that they are working after ten principles that the Global Compact have set up. The 10 principles cover human rights, environmental issues, labor rights and anti-corruption (UN Global Compact).
The European Union member state Austria has on an early stage adopted another politics on labor migration workers from the new European Union Member States than Sweden (Doyle et.al 2006: 18). The transitional rules in Austria concerns citizens from Bulgaria and Romania, which is also the two countries where most of the independent pickers in Sweden seems to be from. There are however little blueberries in Austria, but just as seasonal migrant workers not only work with blueberries in Sweden, there are many other low-skilled jobs that can be, and are, executed by a foreign work force in Austria. Austria is in many ways similar to Sweden when looking at the social well-being and size of the country. The public debate is nevertheless found to be different than the one in Sweden.
5
Translated from the Swedish ’Fria plockare’
1.2 Research Questions
To lead the research to an actual finding we will reach to find out firstly who could be the responsible for the situation in the berry industry. Secondly the research aims to answer which effect one of the largest initiative from the Board of Migration have given: the guidelines for hiring non-EU workers. Thirdly the research aims to find out how initiatives from organizations might have affected the situation for the migrant berry pickers in Sweden. The situation for the workers in Sweden is then compared to the situation in Austria, and the goal is then to follow up if the situation in Sweden could have been avoided if using the same approach as Austria.
The research question for this study follows:
1. Who is the responsible for the situation for the European migrant berry pickers in Sweden?
2. Why is the seasonal migration flow from Easter Europe so heavy on Sweden, and how has the Swedish board of Migrations guidelines affected the flow?
3. What role does initiatives from fair-trade organizations play in the berry industry? 4. Could the Swedish blueberry scandal have been avoided using the same approach that
Austria used?
1.3 Aim and purpose of research
The aim of the research is to give an contribution to the debate about the situation for the migrant workers who are citizens in the European Union. The case with European migrant workers is something that we in general also can look upon in a broader spectrum, since the east-west migration flow is not only towards Sweden but also other western European member states, for example Austria.
the information we have about the migrant blueberry pickers. Using the four research questions, the aim to get the answers of who is responsible, how could it happen, how can it be solved, how could it have been avoided?
The research includes several topics that are related to development studies. We have issues widely related to human trafficking, to poverty, to migration and not the least how all of these things are related and can generate a situation like the one we have found in the 21st century Sweden.
1.4 Ethical considerations
Berry picking is extremely grueling work and not all the hard working guest workers get exploited. There are opportunities to earn a lot of money for a person from a developing country, many of the Thai and Chinese people interviewed in media mention that they come back to Sweden year after year for the berry season. The whole business should hence not be blackened. We can also find that there is interdependence between the berry industry and the pickers. Many of the pickers are both correctly employed and treated under Swedish labor laws. Around 5500 Thai pickers came to Sweden during 2012 (Swedwatch 2012:13) and media reported very little about abuses against that group of migrant workers. There is with this stated no intention to make any generalization, neither among the industry nor among the different categories of pickers.
We can also find a danger to depict all the Eastern European pickers as “gold diggers” or “benefit tourists”, as they are often portrayed as. Since the study does not cover a deep focus of the pickers situation in the home country, we should be careful of making assumption about the pickers identities and lives. This goes hand on hand with the fact that many of the pickers are portrayed as Roma people, which per se is a sensitive issue.
1.5 Limitations and delimitations
The research tries to approach a very complex case with many involved actors, people, opinions and problems. It is not possible to completely leave out any of the contributing factors since that would create a false picture. There is hence a delimitation of the field to go deeper with every aspect, and the research might in this sense give an approach of being very general since we will discuss much of the information given about the situation but not going very deep into each topic within the discussion. One example of the topics that it is possible to discuss more about is the historical situation for the Asian pickers, that is both the reason of the Board of Migrations guidelines as well as it is a major problem itself.
Since the research aims to focus only on a small part of the large field of research (Labor migration in the European Union), which also is the field where little research has been made, one limitation is the lack of earlier existing research, hence there is a large gap of research that can be filled.
In a early state of the research the plan was to include the concerned companies (both the companies connected to global compact and the companies that is not connected) more to get a wider perspective from them and then seek to understand their point of view, since it is them who actually buy the blueberries in the first hand. However in order to stay within the frame of a peace and development perspective this turned out to be a limitation. The purpose of the study is neither to suggest an instructive solution for the situation for the European berry pickers, which might have been what the companies would have tried to implement. The research purpose is to look into how legislations and guidelines concerning one group of people can disfavor another group, and for this I found satisfactory information from daily press. We can nevertheless find a need for also finding the companies view on the Swedish Board of Migrations new guidelines, since they are the only one who can give a straight answer to the question if they now have chosen to use European “independent” pickers instead of employing non-European pickers. Furthermore, the companies that are connected to the UN Global Compact will get a voice through their annual reports to the UN Global Compact regarding their companies’ work on a corporate social responsibility.
March 2013. This is however not the case in the sources that regards Austria. The sources that are from a later date than March 2013 are nevertheless set in perspective with the other sources.
1.6 Structure of study
2 Literature review and theoretical concepts
There is a limited number of published studies made previously about migrant workers in the Swedish berry industry, however, the little material that can be found will be interlinked in this research and also used in the analytical framework. The findings made by others about the situation in the industry will thoroughly be analyzed from the perspective of the research question. Many studies regarding the European labor market exist, and some have been used in this research.
2.1 Labor Migration and the push and pull factors
As previously stated, little published research occurs within the field of the migrant workers in the Swedish berry industry. In a broader field we can nevertheless find a large quantity of research and literature about migrant guest workers and the exploitation of the workers around the world, something that can provide the research with a deeper understanding of why and how the waves of labor migration to the Swedish forests occurs every berry season.
Anyhow, the push and pull factors will be of interest when we seek to understand how the industry works and why the situation appears as it is. We can through them understand how it can be so easy to gather a large migrant workforce that is willing to do the work that not enough Swedes want to do.
2.2 Reports from Swedwatch
There are three SIDA-funded reports7 that are very close to this research8. The three reports have also served as a large source of inspiration. The first two reports came in 2011 and almost exclusively included the Asian pickers. The third report authors make the recognition of a changed situation in the forests, when in the introduction stating that in the report the appellation “Asian picker” has been changed to “foreign picker”, because there is no longer possible to leave out the large flow of European migrants when discussing the migrant workers in Swedish berry industry (Swedwatch 2012).
The two latter reports are follow-ups from the first one and they recognize that the situation is a problem that is changing from year to year. It is mainly in the third report the issue of corporate social responsibility becomes an outspoken topic. The conclusion of the third research bases on that there is a need for clear responsibility in the industry, and that this so far is a very disorganized matter that needs to be evaluated more close.
2.3 Forced Labor Migrant Berry Pickers in Sweden
“Forced Labour and Migrant Berry Pickers in Sweden” by Charles Woolfson, a published case study that aims to examine if the seasonal berry pickers that arrives to Sweden every year are subjects of human trafficking and forced labor. Woolfson et.al (2012) further seeks to understand how the Swedish legislative authorities act within the problem (Woolfson et al. 2012). Woolfson includes and draws several conclusions that are also made in this research. Woolfsons’ et al (2012) work has been crucial for this research when it comes to understand
7 The reports was also funded by Peace and Love Foundation and the Swedish Church
8 The three reports from Swedwatch about the concerned topic is called; “Mors Lilla Olle – Så Exploateras
Asiatiska Bärplockare i de Svenska Skogarna” (Swedwatch 2011), “Mors Lilla Olle – Hur gick det för Blåbärsplockarna Sommaren 2011?” (Swedwatch2 2011) and “Mors Lilla Olle III – Ingen ser Skogen för alla Träd – Vem tar Ansvar för Helheten?” (Swedwatch, 2012).
the different labor laws that have shaped the situation for the migrant berry pickers in Sweden. Early in Woolfsons et al. (2012) chapter of the changes that has occurred in the Swedish legislations in 2008 and 2010 it is stated that it is after the legislations in 2008 that the problems in the sector begins (Woolfson et al. 2012:169) and this is also the thesis that this research is based on.
2.4 UN Global Compact
The UN Global Compact is an initiative by the UN in order to “benefit economies and societies everywhere” (UN Global Compact – Overview of the Global Compact). By using 10 principles that companies around the world can work after and connect themselves to the UN Global Compact strive is to increase the corporate social responsibility in the world. Companies in 130 countries are connected to the initiative (UN Global Compact – Overview of the Global Compact).
Companies can connect themselves to the Global Compact, and the 10 principles, by writing annual reports that proves they are worthy the participation. At least three Swedish berry-distributors are connected to the network, however Global Compact themselves clearly state that they are not a tool of assessment or enforcement, and that the connected company on own initiative need to send in their annual reports and that the complete transparency on the annual
The ten principles of the UN Global Compact: Principle 1: Businesses should support and
respect the protection of intentionally proclaimed human rights; and Principle 2: make sure that they are not
complicit in human rights abuses. Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the
freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective
bargaining;
Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour; Principle 5: the effective abolition of child
labour; and
Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental
challenges;
Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and Principle 9: encourage the development and
diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery. (UN Global Compact – The Ten
reports then works as a tool of self-assessment for the public (UN Global Compact – Integrity Measures).
The three recognized companies that distribute berries to Swedish food consumers that are connected and hence participators of the UN Global Compact are: ICA, Axfood and IKEA. All three companies are also mentioned in this research while commenting on the industry that they are participating in.
Through the reports from the concerned companies (ICA, Axfood and IKEA) we can read that the companies follow the ten principles.
3 Method
This research has taken the form of a qualitative inductive case study. If using Georg and Bennetts’ (2005) arguing, the research could be claimed to be a heuristic case study (Georg and Bennett 2005:75), mainly since the research is looking upon a case of improvement as a possible failure, a case that could be viewed as deviant. Nevertheless can we find a contradiction with the case study when the same authors claim that using a heuristic view on policy making, as in this case, it could loose scientific justification since it assumes that a legislation, or guideline in this case, is more complex than it is. The authors claim that particular decisions might have been done under time pressure and hence have not been able to make a judgment that is suitable for all (Georg and Bennett 2005:99), something that we can assume that has been made in this case (implementing new guidelines for importing non-European work force) due to a escalating problem. The heuristic part of it can explain the decisions made and the different shapes that involved actors have taken in the situation.
argues that the chosen form of study is useful when investigating complex interactions effects (Georg and Bennett 2005:22), something that is highly noticeable in the case of the multifaceted berry picking in Sweden.
Furthermore, interviews would be hard to collect due to that the migrant workers that should be the object for interviews is no longer located in Sweden. Furthermore, many of the companies that operated in the industry before 2010 are no longer on the market. The disappearance of many of the companies’ is in accordance with the board of migrations statement that the new guidelines have “removed many unserious actors from the market” (Migrationsverket 3 2012).
As for the chapter that examines Austria, much of the material found in Austrian newspapers has been written in German. Due to this language barrier for the author, local Austrians have sometimes served as translators and as explanatory tools for the author. Due to the fact that there are no similar case in Austria to compare with the berry industry, this chapter will examine the situation in Austria more generally. In other words, no specific group of workers has been looked upon.
I have chosen to look for reports in national Austrian newspapers and also in national as well as international databases like nachrichten.at and reuters.com. Also regional and local newspapers have been used in order to make the selection as wide as in the study of the Swedish news.
When many articles from the same magazine is used this can be seen in how the source is referred. The number after the name of the source, for example GP12 2009 shows that this is source number 12 from that source under the given year.
3.1 Methodological Tools 3.2 Sources
rural, poor areas with no or very limited access for the researcher this has become the best way.
3.2.1 Relevance of Sources
There is an obvious danger with using the daily press in an academic research, but I have still chosen to use these sources. The relevance of interviews and opinion that are stated in media is often the empirical evidences that this research is founded on. I have chosen to rely on these sources on the basis that several different channels in daily press is regularly used and can in this way secure and back up the stated arguments and opinion.
The research does not include primary interviews with the companies that employs or pay the pickers. The research instead includes and examines their statements in media, as well as one question asked via e-mail to the companies’ customer service. When giving all actors in the industry the same premises of having a voice, it creates validity to the research.
In the other two repeatedly used sources of the concerned topic; Charles Woolfson et al. article and Swedwatch’s three reports we can find that also they frequently refers to the daily press. Both researches have been able to evaluate a reasoning from using the sources given in daily press, and also this research aims to use the daily press and give a scientific approach.
4 Research Results
A model of the industry might now be suitable to add in order to frame up the industry we are aiming to analyze. The model is sketched by Swedwatch (2012) who are, as previous mentioned, aiming to figure out who the responsible for the situation in the Swedish berry industry is (Swedwatch 2012:89)
In the model (p.19) we can see that many actors are involved in the visible part of the industry. Kept in mind that a working majority of the actors stated in the model consist of several different actors we can get a picture of how many stages and people the business actually include. What is not included in the model are the political and authoritarian (Board of Migration etc.) actors that set the rules and regulations for the industry, these left-out actors are however very much included in the analysis of who can be set as responsible for the industry.
What we further see in the model is the agent chain for employed versus independent berry pickers. As Swedwatch explains, big food companies, for example Polarica, are putted in the box “Swedish/foreign wholesale companies” (Swedwatch 2012:9). The intermediate agents are often smaller, local companies, one example of those that is mentioned in this research are Lomsjö Bär AB.
Swedish berry
companies
renting
workforce from
labor hire
Employed Asian
berry pickers
5760 persons obtained work permits in 2012Labor hire companies
in Asia
seeking work permits from the Swedish Migration Board
Intermediate
agent
Small
companies
berry stations
Independent pickers
About 1000 Bulgarians in 2012 and additional pickers from theBaltic countries, Ukraine, Poland, Thailand, Sweden and
others
Intermediate
agent
Swedish/foreign
wholesale companies
Grocery
4.1 History
The situation for the migrant berry pickers is changing from year to year. Below is a summarized history review from the last three years (2010-2012) presented in order to give a picture that then can help to describe the current situation and show on what foundation the Swedish Board of Migrations guidelines is based on. What is different during 2011-2012 than previous years reports is that the focus now shifts from non-European pickers to the situation for the European pickers, which is also our focus. It is mainly during 2012’s season that the discussion about the European pickers is raised to higher instances and authorities.
The history up to year 2010 is included in the historical background to give a picture of how the reporting looked like before when the focus was on the Asian pickers, and the background stories from 2010 should hence work as a argument for why the Swedish Board of Migration have strengthen their guidelines to the current level.
4.1.1 Before 2010
Sweden is most summers full of berries and the market for berries and products made of berries is historically large10. The Public Right of Access makes it possible for anyone to pick the berries, and the taxation-rules for the market has been very generous and made it possible for both pickers and the industry to make some good money without paying taxes. The taxation rules was changed and strengthened in 2003. According to a motion to the Swedish parliament was the reason for this that a large industrialization of the berry market had occurred (Sveriges Riksdag 2010).
Woolfson et. al (2012) claims that the problems in the forests begun in 2008 (Woolfson et al 2012:171), and this is also the conclusion we can draw from the media attention that is given. We can find a few reports that migrant workers were exploited in the industry before 2010. The workers’ that are included in the reports in media are exclusively Asian, mainly from Thailand, Vietnam and China.
The exploitation that is mentioned in media before 2010 is in general about defaulted payments of salaries, or that the payment in not sufficient to cover the workers expenses of visas, travelling and board and lodge in Sweden. For example media reported during 2009
10 According to Värmlands Folkblad, Sweden exported already in 1902 around 2000 tons of lingonberries (VF
about the Thai berry riot in northern Sweden, where 200 berry pickers claimed that they had been fooled by the industry and refused to work (DN 2009).
4.1.2 2010
During 2010 media reported about a couple of different stories. The Asian pickers are still in focus. We can also find a debate between some actors (politicians, unions and the distributors) that discusses how to tackle the situation for the pickers, the Swedish Board of Migration have strengthen their rules but the situation seems to require tougher guidelines with better control of observance.
In the beginning of August 2010 approximately 180-200 Chinese berry pickers in the northern Sweden starts a protest walk towards. The pickers claim that they have been financial misled by the industry, and that they have not received the money they were supposed to get according to the agreement they have signed (GP22 2010). The march got interrupted quickly, by whom is not clear, and leads to meetings with the staffing companies, the pickers and also representatives from the Chinese embassy. Two Swedish leading politicians announce in media that they claim that matter is not political since the laws in Sweden should be enough. The politicians claim that is rather the companies in the industry that should have the responsibility that the rules and laws are followed. Furthermore, the problem is according to the two politicians that the pickers goes to Sweden based on false information, and that that is the core issue (DN15 2010) GP17 2010).
A representative from LO claims that the problem is that the Swedish company now have the authority to decide if they want to hire a foreign work force, something that according to LO was previously done by several higher authorities in Sweden (DN29 2010). The group of Chinese pickers that protested then went back home, according to an employer without picking one single berry (GP17 2010).
negotiate to claim a wage guarantee from the Swedish government, something that is made possible when the company has been set in bankruptcy (GP33 2010)11.
Another story during 2010 that got much attention was the problems for the Vietnamese pickers who started a protest against the way they were treated. The Vietnamese pickers, like the Chinese pickers who had started a protest walk approximately one week earlier, claimed that they did not get the money they had agreed on and that the board and lodge was terrible. There were also not enough berries to pick, something that decreased the wage even more. The Swedish police had to take action in the protests after five foremen (Vietnamese representatives of the staffing company the pickers were employed by) of the migrant workforce got locked in and tied with ropes (DN21 2010). Four of the Vietnamese workers involved in the riot were arrested by the police, but got released without charge one month later (GP28 2010). Many of the Vietnamese exploited pickers who were blindsided to Sweden got help with transportation home (GP35 2010). However, there are also a many Vietnamese who disappeared, probably to seek employment elsewhere in the European Union, in order to enable to pay back their debts from the unsuccessful berry season (GP32 2010).
We also find reports from a group of 140 migrant workers from Bangladesh who protest against how they got mistreated and fooled by their employees (GP14 2010). What all the cases during 2010 have in common, as well as for the reports from 2009, is that there seems to be a problem with the staffing companies that the pickers are employed by. The pickers are in Sweden on false grounds and promises, and they have to go back home heavily indebted to the agents who the pickers claim to have lured them to Sweden (GP16 2010).
4.1.3 2011
Compared to the previous reviewed years in this chapter we can find a relatively small media reporting during 2011's berry season. The focus we find is no longer on Asian pickers but on Romanian migrant pickers who protest against their bad treatment from the industry. According to Värmlands Folkblad (2011), the Romanians can show paper that prove that they have been promised a certain amount of money per kilogram picked berries, but the pickers claims that they have been paid a smaller, amount of money than agreed. The employer claims that the pickers are lazy people, who do not want to work. The Romanians demand to
get their correct payment and also to get their transportation home paid (VF 2011). Göteborgsposten reports a few days later that the Romanians have reached an agreement (after involvement with the local police) with the Swedish berry company and that the pickers are satisfied and that they now will go back home to Romania (GP45 2011). The situation is diffuse and the happening is eventually reported to the police, however no one was put to trial.
We also find a case of suspected human trafficking. Three Bulgarians reported that they were victims of forced labor/slavery after they had been promised a well-paid job in Sweden (GP5, 2011).
4.1.4 2012
The focus 2012 was almost exclusively about the Bulgarian berry pickers that arrived to Sweden in July, when no berries were available or ripe to pick. The nationality Romanians is mentioned in rare cases in the media reports, while Bulgarians are mentioned in the majority of the reports12.
SVT reports on the 12th of July that a large group of Bulgarian berry pickers has arrived to Sweden, and also that there are no berries to harvest (SVT16, 2012). The same day DN interviews Sylve Björkman, a man working in the berry industry, who claims that the situation already is bad with many fortune hunters in the forest, also he states that people from Rumania and Bulgaria have arrived, even if there are three weeks left until the blueberry harvest time (DN12, 2012. The 14th of July also Sveriges Radio (SR5, 2012) makes the observation of the many arrived eastern European workers (SR5, 2012). The news reporting is most of the time during the whole July concentrated on one area; the area around Mehedebyn. In the following days a lot happens; the local population in Mehedebyn and its surroundings is upset about the situation for the Bulgarians. Both locals who are negative and positive towards the pickers are given a voice and the situation starts to be riotous. Groups on Facebook exhorts the local communities around the berry pickers settlements to raise their voices against the Bulgarians, stone-throwing on the settlements occurs (SVD3 2012) and media monitor the settlements and the surrounding local communities with daily reports. One man gets arrested on the cause of suspected human trafficking of the Bulgarian pickers (DN7
2012). The suspected man however get released a week later because of a lack of evidence (DN13).
LO, local politicians, the police and first and foremost the locals step in and both help and work against the exposed berry pickers. In the end of July the situation is getting unsustainable for the pickers, who are still waiting for the blueberries to be ready for harvest. A couple of hundred Bulgarians starts to walk or being transported with help from the local community (Svd6 2012) to Stockholm in order to try to get some help from the Bulgarian embassy. The Bulgarian ambassador agrees to provide the waiting Bulgarians with a bus transportation home (Svd5, 2012). The reports regarding the movement to Stockholm starts around the 20th of July 2012, and the reports in media is after this mainly about the Bulgarians who arrives to Stockholm and stay outside the Bulgarian embassy until the get help. The case now also concerns local Stockholm citizens who are disturbed by the situation (Svd14, 2012). The discussion is also widely about who should take the responsibility for the Bulgarians and for the payment for the damage the pickers have made in the forests where they lived. It is also discussed who should pay for the food that the locals have provided the pickers with and who should pay the bus transportations first to Stockholm and then to Bulgaria (DN14 2012). Both local people in the northern communities where the pickers first were and local population in Stockholm are engaged in the debate.
During 2012's season most reporting has been from the local communities’ point of view. We could see a clear conversion in the reporting: from very annoyed locals to locals who collectively helped the migrant workers with food and accommodation and then help the pickers to get transportation back home to Bulgaria.
The owner of one forest, Stora Enso, wanted the Bulgarians to leave the forest and Stora Enso claimed help from the Swedish Enforcement Service13 to depart the pickers (VK 2012) (SR 2, 2012). A group of locals from the nearby community went into the forest and threatened the Bulgarians with wooden sticks and insulting words. Also Facebook groups that openly wanted the Bulgarians to leave was to be found as well abusive letters to the editors in newspapers (SVT 6, 2012). The Bulgarian pickers that was in Sweden during summer 2012 was general Roma people, and the discrimination from the local and the surrounding communities, as well as the Facebook groups, was often directed in an anti-ziganistic perspective.
4.2 Problems and recognitions in the industry
The increasing problems for the migration workers in Sweden can be explained as an effect of the financial crisis that captured Europe in 200814 and as an effect of the increasing demand and export of blueberries, and consequently a larger demand of pickers. We can also find a number of changes in the Swedish legislations that have had a various impacts on the berry industry. There are several other events that have created the situation. In order to sort out the complex problems that have occurred within the industry I will below provide a list with the identified problems within the field of migrant berry-pickers in Sweden. The problems are mainly gathered from the large amount of media-reports.
According to SVT (2012), new stricter laws is in the pipeline to be presented by the Government in order to handle the problem, something that in the time of writing this research is not yet to be found. However, LO comments upon the government’s plan of implementing new laws that it is still not enough, strict punishments for using exploited pickers should be implemented (SVT10). LO refers to the rules that exist in Denmark as a good blueprint for implementing also in Sweden. The Danish rules also seem equivalent with what the Swedish Minister of Labor suggests for Sweden (SVT10). The rules in Denmark are called RUT, in English translated to Registration for Foreign Service Providers and are a system that ensures that everyone that are working in the country is registered by the service providers (staffing companies) that employs them. The rules enable an easier insight and
13 In Swedish ”Kronofodgemyndigheten”
contact with the foreign providers (Ministry of Employment). Danish companies are not allowed to employ work force from Foreign Service providers that is not registered, if they do they risk a fine (Arbetet1 2012). LO argues that a solution for the problem would be to as in Denmark, have a fine for the companies that does not make sure to be registered (SVT10).
4.2.1 A Replaceable Workforce
The dependence the industry has of the workers is often interlinked with the migrant workers own dependence. We can find that economic push and pull factors are crucial in the decision of going to Sweden. The typical guest workers that go to Sweden are often here because of a weak financial situation in the home country (Woolfson et.al, 2012). Many, both the Asian and European pickers, are farmers from rural, developing areas and spend their summers in Sweden while waiting for their plantation’s harvest time (Swedwatch, 2011). Furthermore, the number of people willing to work in Sweden is seemingly larger than the number of work places for migrant workers which make it easy for the Swedish berry industry to replace the workers every year, something that open up for unserious actors.
An estimation made of one of the bigger berry companies is that the berry industry’s infrastructure only can take care of around 4000 workers each season (DN 7 2012).
4.2.3 Human Trafficking and Staffing Companies
”(a) “Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs;” (United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime 2004)
Through this definition on human trafficking we can start an examination on the topic of forced labor in the blueberry industry.
stories of the Asian pickers we first heard human trafficking being mentioned. It is through staffing companies and agents in the home countries that a large majority of all Asian berry-pickers find their way to Sweden. The staffing companies need (since 2008) to be accepted and supervised by the Board of Migration. They also need to have a local coordinator in Sweden during the berry-season in order to get the work permits for the pickers approved by the Board of Migration, the staffing companies must also sign an agreement with a labor union. The supervising by the Board of Migration is only needed for the non-European staffing companies, whilst the European staffing companies and agents are not checked regularly and can operate without any regulations. The European staffing company give an approach to not be as organized as the Asian ones, the European is rather referred to in media as agents.
It is the staffing companies that most often are blamed for being a part of human trafficking networks. A few suspected traffickers have also been arrested during the past years, however no one (as I have been able to find in media) has been found guilty of charge. The strongest evident of human trafficking we can find is through the pickers, both European as non-Europeans, stories they have told in media.
In the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons 2012 we can find that the UN has different proposals in order to combat human trafficking and what is most relevant in this case; forced labor migration. The proposals include implementation of stricter laws and global awareness, but also a suggestion that there is a need to educate the consumers of the goods produced by the trafficked workers (United Nations 2012).
4.2.4 A lot of pickers but little berries (2012)
2012 was a bad year for picking blueberries. It was a late season and the small quantity of berries did not match the big numbers of pickers that wanted to take part of the harvest.
Currently, there is no official department that calculates how many pickers that is needed each season. SLU (Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet) make regular prognoses, the calculations made by SLU of how many pickers that is needed for each season have however been criticized to often be under- or overestimated (GP42 2009). Further, since there is no rule about registering in the country when arriving it is also impossible to know how many European pickers who have worked in the Swedish blueberry sprigs the last summers. It is consequently also hard to regulate the business of the number of participants. Swedwatch estimated that around 1000 Bulgarians came to Sweden during 2012’s season (Swedwatch 2012:8). In general, the Swedish forests offer an amount of berries that should be sufficient for the market. A local politician in Värmland (a region with much berries) even states that only 5 percent of the Swedish berry-supply is gathered and used each season (GP51, 2009).
Polaricas CEO Tommy Innala argues, for example, that the industries’ infrastructure cannot take care of more than 4000 pickers (DN7). The correctly employed pickers are however guaranteed a minimum-payment even when their harvest is lower than expected, currently the number is 18 600 Swedish kronor (SEK). The un-employed, or independent, pickers are in a worse situation. Without a guaranteed payment a loss of berries, and hence income, means that being in Sweden is only a constant expense, a situation that they in worse sense also often have paid an agent for organizing, both the trip and the work.
There are many Bulgarians interviewed in Swedish media during 2012, and most of them narrative of a sad situation. The problematic situation escalated quickly, and there were daily news about the pickers. The news feed eventually stopped with the outcome that the Bulgarian embassy in Stockholm helped with buses to ship home the Bulgarian citizens that by then was out of money, after a very fruitless summer-job.
There are no statistics or numbers of how many European pickers that visit Sweden every year, but different actors within in field estimates that several thousands eastern Europeans came to Sweden during 2012, with the mission to pick berries. At the same time did the Swedish Board of Migration issue 5556 work permits to Thai pickers (Svd3 2012).
4.2.5 The fair trade discussion
In the lead of the discussion of a possibility to grant companies that act according to ethical considerations we find the representatives from the company Polarica. Polarica is, according to GP (2010), the industry’s largest company (GP46 2010) and hence has a great responsibility in the business (DN28 2010). Polaricas CEO Tommy Innala seems to shoulder the responsibility and writes in the beginning of of 2012's berry season a debate article in Aftonbladet, where he request other berry companies to do like them in order to better the berry industry, he describe the betterment in 5 steps. The 5 steps are detailed and includes several important issues; education and certification of the berry purchasers, to make sure that the workers have the correct information before they sign any contracts and to simplify the work for the pickers (Aftonbladet1 2012)15.
Polarica is one of the few companies on the berry-market that are certified with by “KRAV”. As Tommy Innala argues, certification is off large importance when seeking for a change and KRAV is one of the most well-known certification in the Swedish food industry. To be certified by KRAV the company needs to fulfill the following: Must have a policy on social justice in countries where the rules of social justice is missing, not use involuntary labor, must not act in a discriminatory manner, must enable basic education for minors to give employees the opportunity to organize and bargain collectively, be able to present documentation of the above points16(KRAV)
We can find in old interviews that several berry companies’ demand/request a new marking that guarantee social responsibility (Sveriges Radio3 2012). We can through these media discussions find that there is recognition of the problem, and a will to change the ethics within the industry, both from parts of the business, and also from the consumers, view. In an e-mail where the author asked ICA about the tagging, and how a regular consumer should know if the berries were picked under ethical circumstances, the received answer was:
“ICA have since 2010 worked with the design of a control system in order to minimize the risks for exploiting the foreign berry pickers, as it has been described in media. The work is first and foremost to make sure that the berry pickers have acceptable housing, working environment and payment. Since the problem with the foreign berry pickers is a question of trade with many actors, ICA cannot guarantee anything concrete. We can nevertheless guarantee that ICA will work for the berry pickers that work for our distributors will not get used and will be treated well.”2
The reports that ICA, Axfood and Ikea has uploaded on UN Global Compacts portal offer a broad picture of an ideal company and no words about berries are mentioned. However, since this is reports that is created by the companies we can use their statements to see their analysis and definition of how they control human trafficking and forced labor, which is one of the issues that the berry industry is blamed to be involved with.
Neither of the reports from the companies is very profound, but it is, nevertheless, the statement that the companies give that they are working against any kind unethical behavior. The unethical behavior from companies in the industry is evidently what to be found in the hundreds of reports from media. One of these companies, ICA, sells blueberries with the label “Swedish Blueberries”. Who picked the blueberries and what salary they were given is of course not declared anywhere on the box of the blueberries.
4.3 Why migration?
The answer is a mixture of a few interrelated factors, that all somehow can be explained as effects of globalization. Firstly, picking berries is not something Swedish citizens are very likely to do. It is a very grueling, physical hard work and the technical innovations for picking berries is very little advanced. The only tool used is a so-called “berry picker” ('bärplockare'), a tool that could be compared with a comb attached to a spade. This in combination to the salaries the industry offers, make it hard work and little spare time to earn a living that suits a Swedish living standard. We can also prolong the answer with arguing that the geographic location of the blueberry forests is not in a demographic favor of hiring people residing in Sweden. Shelley (2007) states that with the kinds of conditions that exists in this industry, there is simply no other way than hiring migrant workers. The berry-companies can neither, for obvious reasons, move their industry to where the cheap and available labor force lives. There is hence a need to bring the work force to the Swedish forests. We can nevertheless very often see on the packages that the berries are picked in Sweden but then transported and packed in for example Poland, a country where cheap labor can be found.
If we then move one to the question why the migrants come to Sweden, a variety of explanations can be given. If we start with using the push and pull factors for the two different groups of pickers, we can find that are common reasons of migration could vary. We can find that some trends is very general among the two groups. This evident that the different push and pull factors exist among the migrant groups can be compiled from the interviews of the pickers in media, all of them presented in the research.
Push-factors: Pull-factor:
• Poverty or a insufficient financial situation in the home country • Unemployment. Bulgarias and
Romanias unemployment rates are among the highest in Europe. • Discrimination in the home country.
Many of the approached Eastern Europeans are Romas, a n ethnic group that suffers from a widespread discrimination around Europe, and Eastern Europe in particular.
• Organized help with the travel, accommodation and work. • Ties to the guest country through
relatives or compatriots living that used to live in Sweden, that has provided some knowledge about the country.
• Easy access to guest work in the Sweden.
As a European citizen you do not need to apply for a work permit in Sweden. Neither do you have to register at the Swedish Board of Migration as a worker if you come as a guest worker to Sweden, with the intention to stay less than three months. If staying longer than three months, you will have to register (this is for example not the case for Bulgarian, Croatian and Romanian citizens in Austria and Germany). Citizens from the European Union do not have to be employed before coming to Sweden, but they can start looking for a work after the arrival (Migrationsverket1 2012). This is a large difference from the non-European workers, who need to have a formal employment in Sweden before being granted a visa to travel into the country. The Swedish Board of Migration still issues several thousands of work permits every season, due to generous migration policies.
Migrant and guest workers are nothing new, either in Sweden or elsewhere in the world, and Sweden is most certainly not the only place that the group of migrant berry pickers goes to. We can find evidence that the same group of migrant workers who comes to Sweden also seek employment elsewhere. One interviewed Bulgarian guest workers claims that “...we get better treatment everywhere else than in Sweden” (Arbetaren4 2012). Another Bulgarian picker strengthen this with saying that it is better to work in Spain, it is both warmer and you are provided a house to live in (Arbetaren4, 2012).
4.4 The Swedish Board of Migrations guidelines
In 2008 the Board of Migration implemented new guidelines for companies that hire foreign (European) berry pickers in order to take control over the situation for the non-European17 berry-pickers. Since that year, new guidelines have appeared every year. The guidelines presented in 2012 include several parts. The company that employ foreign berry pickers need to show that they are financially able to pay salaries and social fees, they also need to show that they are organized and will take responsibility for the workers living conditions. The full guidelines can be found in Appendix 2.
4.4.1 The Aliens Act (2005:716)
The Aliens Act18 regulates on what permits foreigners have the right to residence and work in Sweden. The Aliens Act includes all foreigners, and we can hence find juridical liability for both pickers/citizens from the European Union and the others.
What is relevant from the Aliens Act in this research is the legacy of being in Sweden and work, and to look upon what conditions the migrant berry pickers are here on, both the European and the non-Europeans.
For the EEA citizens we found that:
“Section 1 ‘Right of residence’ means a right for EEA nationals and their family members to stay in Sweden for more than three months without a
residence permit in accordance with what is stated in this Chapter. (Chapter 3a. Right of residence for EEA nationals and others)
We also find that:
“The residence permit and work permit requirements do not apply to EEA nationals and their family members who have a right of residence.” (Chapter 2. Section 8.)
The Swedish Migration Board have six requirements for issuing a work permit to a non-European, this is also according to the Aliens Act. The non-European citizen must (1) have a
17 Without exceptions have the mentioned non-European pickers been from Asian countries, namely China, Vietnam and Thailand.
valid passport (2) have been offered terms of employment that are at least on the same level as Swedish collective agreements or that which is customary in the occupation or industry (have a valid passport) (4) have been offered terms of employment that are at least on the same level as Swedish (5) collective agreements or that which is customary in the occupation or industry (6) have been offered a monthly pretax salary of at least SEK 13,000 (Migrationsverket2 2012)19 (The Aliens Act, Chapter 6).
4.5 The demography change and effects of the guidelines
Since 2008 when the Swedish Board of Migration strengthened their guidelines for employing non-European work force there has been a large change in the demography in the berry forest.
The large differences, and the reason of the changes in the demography, since before 2008 is that the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) is now involved and with large influences of the wages and working conditions for the non-European workers. According to the Swedish Board of Migration also the Swedish Work Environment Authority, the Swedish Tax Agency and the Swedish Police has cooperated with the Board of Migration in order to handle the problems (Migrationsverket4, 2012).
According to the Swedish Board of Migration the situation for the non-European berry pickers get better and better every year, and they conclude that 2011 and 2012's berry seasons were conducted with little or no reports of offense from the neither pickers nor the companies view (Migrationsverket5 2012) (Migrationsverket4 2012). Also Tobias Billström, the Swedish Minister of Migration and Asylum Policies, claims that the situation was much better 2012 than before. He nevertheless also seems to talk about the non-European pickers, and does not include the situation for the European pickers (Svd15 2012). Also Woolfson et al. states that the number of Asian pickers was heavily reduced between 2010 and 2011 as an effect of the stricter guidelines (Woolfson 2012:171).
Regarding the situation for the EU-pickers that is left out and who is a possible side-effect of the guidelines, Billström answers diffusely that if the question concerns exploitation of the pickers the matter should be noticed on an international police level, and that it is not only a concern for Swedish authorities to clear out (Svd15 2012). The EU minister in Sweden,
Birgitta Ohlsson, agrees that the situation for the European pickers is unsustainable, and that the question might be a case for the European Union, as an informative channel in order to make sure that people do not get lured to Sweden under false premises (SVT7 2012). Woolfson et al (2012) argues that the cut-down on non-European workers have been substituted with pickers from mainly new EU-states (Woolfson et al 2012:172).
4.6 Austria – a comparative case
In order to make a comparison between Sweden and Austria’s situation for seasonal migrant workers, a brief overview over Austria will now be presented. We will find, as previously mentioned, that Austria and Sweden have many similarities.
Austria is, just like Sweden, a country with a high GDP and a fairly low unemployment rate (Landguiden4, 2013). Sweden and Austria also have a similar population size (8-9 Million citizens). Further similarities are a population that is aging and a low birthrate, which is typical for Western Europe (Landguiden6, 2013). This event cause, in theory and in general, a decreasing active labor force. In the Swedish public debate, this theory is often used as the main argument when arguing in favor of labor migration. Austrian Times (2013) claims that Austria will suffer from a large lack of labor, and predict that in 2050, there will be “..seven seniors compared to ten employees” and that hence the country are in need of foreign carers to take care of the aging population. (Austrian Times 2013 2).
Both Austria and Sweden entered the European Union in 1995 (Landguiden7, 2013). Both countries also have in general social-democratic dominated governments in the postwar-history, but both countries also have a recent increased support for nationalistic, EU-skeptical, political parties. Austria also has likewise Sweden a postwar-history of neutrality within foreign politics.
4.6.1 Migrant and seasonal work in Austria
