19 Thai workers were left stranded for 4 months after a year working on a tomato farm in Murcia, southern Spain.  In July, they were sacked by their Spanish employer, despite the fact their broker in Thailand had promised them 5-year contracts.  They returned to Thailand on 4 Dec, and are now trying to seek compensation from the Thai broker, as they had incurred huge debts to apply for the job.

According to Mongkol Phawadee, one of the workers from Ban Dung District, Udon Thani Province, he went to Udorn NT Union Co labour agency in 2007 to apply for a job in Canada.  He had heard from the agency’s advertisement that he could get as much as 60,000-70,000 baht a month.  He paid a deposit of 40,000 baht for a visa application.  

However, after about a year, the agency told him that it could not get a visa, but it could send him to Spain instead.

‘I waited for about one year and two months. The creditor who lent me 40,000 baht for the deposit at 5% interest per month pressed for repayment.  The agency refused to pay me back.  So I sought help from a Provincial Council member.  As a favour to the local politician, the agency repaid me 24,000 baht.  It told me it would use the rest to send me to Spain where I would get 60,000-70,000 baht a month with a one-year contract that could be renewed for 4 more years.  And if I stayed on for 5 years, I could bring two people with the same family name to work there as well,’ Mongkol said.  So he agreed.

He and 18 other job seekers were brought to KS Manpower Supply Co at Lad Phrao Soi 130 in Bangkok.  They were told that they had to pay 580,000 baht each in commission.  While they were waiting for the visas, they were provided with a short Spanish language course by KS Manpower Supply. 

KS Manpower Supply had each of them record a talk on video, following a script prepared by the company, saying that they were making the trip to Spain on their own without any broker involved.  The line was to be repeated to immigration at the airport on the day they left for Spain.

Not long after they went home, they were told to make the payments at the Udon NT Union Co.  Those who did not have cash brought land title deeds to be mortgaged with financiers recommended by the agency, at an interest rate of 3% a month.

‘I mortgaged my land title deeds for 470,000 baht, for which I would have to pay back 684,000 baht including interest in 18 months.  And I borrowed 100,000 baht from Udorn NT Union Co,’ Mongkol said.

Finally, they boarded the plane to Spain on 7 July 2008.  They were met by Manuel Mirochnik and Jose Manuel Carrosco from Proyecto Reitman Co, who took them to the tomato farm run by Agricola Pastrana (Mendez) Co.  They started work on 9 July 2008.  The wage they actually got was 5.97 Euros per hour, not 6.13 as they had been told by the Udon company.

‘We did everything in the farm including planting, harvesting, trimming branches, and cleaning,’ Mongkol said.

They worked 8 hours a day on weekdays, and 2-6 hours on Saturdays.  They rented a house in town, and commuted to the farm in the company’s car.

‘The Spanish people didn’t have problems with foreigners.  But we couldn’t communicate as they hardly spoke any English, and we hardly spoke any Spanish,’ Mongkol said.

The employer always delayed payment of their salaries; sometimes it took two months and a half. They had to go on strike to demand payment on time.

A year later, the employer told them that the contracts expired on 15 July, and he had already bought air tickets for them to return to Thailand on 19 July.

They were startled and phoned their broker, KS Manpower Supply, in Thailand right away. The broker told them to stay on and try to avoid the authorities, and it would try to find them another job.

On 25 July, they were chased out of their house by the landlord.  However, Jose Manuel Carrosco of the Proyecto Reitman Co took them to the company’s accommodation.  

‘We lived in hiding.  We were jobless.  Our work permits had expired, and no employer would hire us.  Sometimes we had to catch wild rabbits and fish in the river, and live off vegetables that had been thrown away,’ Mongkol said.

For weeks, their broker in Bangkok kept promising to sort things out for them, but nothing ever happened.  KS Manpower Supply at one point suggested going to work in Portugal.

They were broke.  They had to ask for money from KS Manpower Supply, which sent them 100 Euros each.  This did not last long.

One of their relatives called and told them about the Union of Overseas Workers in Thailand which had helped Thai workers picking berries in Sweden who had faced a similar fate.  They faxed their complaints to the Union in mid-November, and the Chair of the Union Janya Yimprasert called her fellow labour activists in Madrid to help take care of them.  They also got a lot of help from a group of Thai workers who had been sent by a company to pick vegetables in Spain, and who happened to be in Murcia at that time.

After a few months of hardship, they decided to call the Thai Consulate in Madrid to help them get home.  They finally flew to Thailand on 4 Dec with the air fare paid by their Thai broker, according to the Thai Consulate.           

Mongkol said years earlier he had been to Israel to work on a grape farm with no problems.  He sent home 10,000-20,000 baht on average back each month.  He worked there for a year and a half.  With the money he earned, he built a wooden house, and used the rest of money for family expenses and farm investments.  When his family expenses increased due to the cost of his children’s education, he went back to Israel to work on a chilli farm in Arava for two years and 7 months.  He earned 20,000-30,000 baht a month.  He came home with money to extend his home and buy electrical appliances and other equipment, and used the rest on family expenses.

He also applied his experience in Israel in growing beans and chilli to sustain his family.  However, due to his children’s needs for higher education, which doubled his expenses, he had to find another job overseas again, which sent him to Spain this time.

Now Mongkol and the other workers are seeking help from the Ministry of Labour to negotiate with their labour broker to cover their losses.