Four years on Tesco still stalling on South African women’s farm pay

Posted on July 15, 2009
Filed Under Campaign, Employment Work, Equality, Global | Comments Off

The pay and conditions of women in South Africa producing fruit for Tesco have barely improved since ActionAid first drew attention to the issue four years ago, the charity said today.

Jenny Ricks, ActionAid Campaigner said: “Tesco has increased its ethical checks in response to campaigning pressure from ActionAid. This is a good step forward, but it has not yet translated into real improvements in women’s lives. Tesco promised to ensure workers are paid a living wage. Now it’s time for them to deliver. The next step is to set up a pilot project to bring pay and conditions up to acceptable standards on an initial group of farms.”

The charity is reminding Tesco’s board of the promises it made to farmworker Gertruida Baartman, who has twice come to the company’s AGM to ask the board directly why her pay and conditions are so poor.

South African workers like Gertruida are struggling to feed and clothe their children on poverty wages. Campaigners are calling for a living wage to be paid.

The supermarket chain, which made £3 billion profit last year, is currently facing accusations about union-busting at its US subsidiary Fresh and Easy, and about the pay and conditions of foreign agency workers at its meat and poultry suppliers in the UK. The annual general meeting (Friday 3 July) will provide an opportunity for concerned shareholders to raise questions about the treatment of workers at Tesco’s subsidiaries and suppliers.

The actor James Purefoy, who met women workers in South Africa with ActionAid in May, said: “It’s outrageous that Tesco’s profits are topping £3 billion, when I met women in South Africa who were being paid £22 a week to pick the fruit that ends up on our supermarket shelves. As consumers shouldn’t we expect the people at the sharp end of the supply chain to be getting a better deal than that?.”

ActionAid argues that Tesco could make a massive difference to workers’ lives without raising prices for consumers or losing significant profits. Workers currently get just three pence out of every pound that British consumers spend in Tesco on South African apples.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/
216723/02e4e7763a4cfd89abc6992787c7fac1.htm

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