Foreign seasonal workers in Agri sector may be vulnerable: NBI

There are many foreign seasonal workers in the agricultural sector who may not know the Finnish legislation and who may be in a vulnerable position in terms of workers' rights, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

The NBI also found that exploitation practices may include inconsistencies and shortcomings in the payment of wages and in working time records as well as breaches of minimum wages, said an official press release on Friday.

Finland participated in Europe-wide action days against trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation in the agricultural sector.

The Police, Regional State Agency and the Border Guard inspected, for example, berry farms in August. Based on the action days, the situation in the Finnish agricultural sector is generally good.

The action days against trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation in the agricultural sector were organised in Finland from 8 to 19 August 2022 as part of an operation coordinated by Europol.

Member of the law enforcing agencies inspected, for example, farms, berry farms, greenhouses and residential premises in different parts of the country.

In Finland, the authorities inspected 117 locations, 753 persons and 777 documents, i.e. 1,647 targets in total.

A large proportion of the persons inspected were those who had fled from the war in Ukraine and are working mainly as seasonal workers.

“The main objective of the action days was to detect and prevent criminal activities. The results in Finland were generally good, and no major cases of exploitation were detected. However, the information is still being analysed, and it is possible that new cases will emerge. It is also good to keep in mind that the dark figure in human trafficking for labour exploitation is quite high,” said Detective Chief Inspector of NBI Johannes Siirilä.

“During the action days, the authorities detected four cases where workers had had to pay a 'mediation fee' to a recruitment agency to get a job. It is suspected that an employment agency offence was committed in these cases. The authorities also detected 20 cases where a person was working without a work permit and three cases of suspected unauthorised use of foreign labour. It is good to note that employers must be aware of their foreign employees' right to work both at the beginning and during the employment relationship,” said Siirilä describing the situation of foreign workers.

The Europe-wide action days in the agricultural sector were carried out as part of the operations of the European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats (EMPACT).

The operation was led by France and coordinated by Europol. Authorities from 16 countries participated in the operation.