(http://search.bangkokpost.com 16 Dec 2015 at 09:26 )

People are lining up at Scandinavia's biggest discount store for food and baby products allegedly made by low-paid, underage and illegal workers in Thailand. (Photo courtesy of VictoriaMedia) Related Stories

The NGO Finnwatch on Wednesday charged that the biggest discount chain in Scandinavia is profitting from food and baby products made in Thailand by migrants workers who are underage, un-registered, low-paid - or all three. The Tokmanni chain told Finnwatch it had made one-off purchases of canned mangoes and baby supplies, and re-pledged promises to check its supply chain.

“One-off purchases are particularly problematic from the business and human rights perspective as without a long-term relationship, the buyer cannot use their leverage to encourage their suppliers to continuously improve working conditions,” Finnwatch said.

It was the third report by Finnwatch on Thai labour abuse since October. Previously, the NGO had allege serious abuses in the fishing and medical glove manufacturing industries.

In a report issued Tuesday Finland time, Finnwatch claimed Tokmanni's efforts to offer seven of every 10 store items below average market cost was leading to unintentional help for labour abuse.

“Tokmanni's purchasing principles are based on international human and labour rights conventions”, said the report, but said standards fall short in the real markets. It cited baby bottles and bowls produced by a firm in Samut Sakhon, and canned mango produced by a company at Mae Sot, Tak province. Purchases were made through a third party. According to Finnwatch, labour abuse is rife at both the Thai companies, which it names in its detailed, 24-page report.

Both companies use Myanmar migrants for labour and Thais as managers, the report says. The report contains details of now-familiar labour abuse, including high recruitment fees, long hours, lack of medical care, use of underage workers and illegally low wages.

But the report centred on the Tokmanni chain, which Finnwatch alleged has “failed to adequately gather or act on the basis of information gathered by its Europe-based suppliers about their Thailand-based suppliers.” This could breach European law or regulations, the report said.