Thai carrier pickers are entitled to occupational pension through the collective agreement between Municipal and the employer. 4.5 percent of the salary amount has been set aside since 2011. It is the insurance company AMF that manages the money unless the pickers make an active placement elsewhere, which is considered unlikely.

Losing several monthly salaries

Exactly how much has been set aside in total, SVT Nyheter Norrbotten has not been able to get it, but calculated on the only guarantee pay that the pickers are entitled to land it at around SEK 80 million this season included. This year, the provision provides the individual berry picker with a minimum of just over SEK 3200, money at home in Thailand corresponding to several monthly salaries.

"Don't even know they are entitled to the money"

The carrier entrepreneur Leif Ögren in Öjebyn is critical of the system and believes that the foreign language and unfamiliar with the Swedish system mean that the pickers are at risk of losing money.

- The chance of them getting the money is zero. They do not even know that they are entitled to the money, says Leif Ögren.

You make money on this. Is it also not your responsibility to inform the pickers?

- I have the responsibility to give them good conditions when they come here, but the responsibility for informing lies with those who have decided that this insurance should exist and it is the trade union Municipal in the first place.

Applicants via social media

Municipal Ombudsman Jörgen Gustavsson believes that the union does more than they really need as the pickers are not members.

- Locally we look up and try to inform as many people as possible.

The insurance company AMF manages the pension funds and where the company's press contact Peter Wärring says that for customers abroad, the company sends a living certificate to in this case the carrier's residence address in Sweden.

- If it bounces back, we look for the person via social media or possibly a relative. No payment will be made until we have confirmed that the person is living, that the money really goes to the right person.

How do you see the possibility that the pickers really get access to their money?

- Obviously it can be difficult in some cases because it may have been 20 to 30 years from the time the person has been here, but these are our routines at present.