South African fruit picker challenges Tesco over farm work conditions

South African fruit picker Gertruida Baartman was to confront Tesco bosses in late June about the poverty pay and terrible conditions on many of the farms supplying their stores. Last year, holding her one share supplied by anti-poverty agency ActionAid, she spoke out in the packed annual general meeting.

To a standing ovation she said that despite being afraid for her job on a Tesco-supplying farm, she was determined to campaign on behalf of the millions of women workers world-wide who toil to pick and pack the fruit that UK consumers buy.

Tesco chairman David Reid promised Gertruida that she would not be targeted for her courage and that Tesco would look into its social and environmental auditing procedures in South Africa.
Since then Gertruida has been sacked. Only the intervention of the South African Women’s Group Women on Farms and the union Sikhula Sonke ensured that she got her job back. She continues to be targeted in her personal life.

Gertruida said, "It would take me four hours to earn enough money to buy a bag of Tesco pears that sell in the UK for £1.39. And I am not alone. Across the world many thousands of women and men work in similar conditions to me for breadline wages."

Wendy Pekeur of Sikhula Sonke, who accompanied Gertruida to the UK, said, "We're not asking for a boycott. We want Tesco to stay in South Africa. We want people in the UK to continue eating South African peaches, pears and apples. We just need to persuade Tesco to respect the laws of our country. They have the power to insist on farmers giving living wages and proper housing and to pay benefits and pensions."

Jenny Ricks, ActionAid campaigner said, "Tesco's drive for low prices has caused low wages, insecure employment and dangerous working conditions for thousands of women workers like Gertruida in its supply chains overseas. It’s time for real action, not PR spin."

ActionAid’s key points are that Tesco were alerted to the issues on South African fruit farms over two years ago and made explicit promises at last year’s AGM, but women workers' lives on the farms have yet to improve. Despite launching an audit of farms, Tesco have yet to reform the buying practices that force down wages and conditions for farmer workers like Gertruida.

The situation on South African fruit farms shows that supermarkets cannot be relied upon to voluntarily clean up their act. It is time for the UK government to rein in their power and force them by regulation to stop exploiting the world’s poor through the appointment of a retail regulator - or supermarket 'Tsar' - to make the supermarkets play fair overseas.

AlertNet