Certified Unilever Tea Small Cup, Big Difference? by SOMO - Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, ICN - India Committee of the Netherlands, October 2011

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Precarious work in certified tea production for Unilever in India and Kenya. This new report by SOMO and ICN reveals labour right violations in Rainforest Alliance certified tea production for Unilever Workers picking tea for Unilever in India and Kenya are subject to precarious working conditions and labor rights violations, even though this tea carries the Rainforest Alliance certificate.

Tea pickers on Unilever's own plantation in Kenya suffer from corruption and sexual harassment by blackmailing supervisors, as well as from poor housing and discrimination. Also, many workers complained that the company systematically deprives them of a permanent contract with better benefits through the practice of firing employees for a minimum period of one month and then rehiring them.

For workers at Unilever tea suppliers in India the situation is no better. Despite the RA label, there are problems regarding payment of the minimum wage, discrimination, substandard plantation facilities (e.g. housing and sanitation) and the unprotected application of pesticides. As in Kenya, many plantation workers at these Indian tea suppliers are denied a permanent contract while working most of the year and for years on end. The trade union situation is also problematic. The work of more progressive trade unions is frustrated in numerous ways, which undermines the workers interests.

More information here

Ripe With Abuse: Human Rights Conditions in South Africa's Fruit and Wine Industries, Human Rights Watch 2011.

This report documents conditions that include on-site housing that is unfit for living, exposure to pesticides without proper safety equipment, lack of access to toilets or drinking water while working, and efforts to block workers from forming unions. While the Western Cape’s fruit and wine industries contribute billions of rand to the country’s economy, support tourism, and are enjoyed by consumers around the world, their farmworkers earn among the lowest wages in South Africa. The report also describes insecure tenure rights and threats of eviction for longtime residents on farms.

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More information, including a good video, on the Human Rights Watch website

Let's Clean Up Fashion 2011: The state of pay behind the UK high street, by Anna McMullen and Sam Maher for Labour Behind the Label, September 2011.

This report grades top high street retailers on the work they are doing to improve pay and conditions for workers in their supply chains. Worst offenders included GAP (which has abandoned plans to work towards a living wage), and H&M (which has yet to commit to the term 'living wage' at all). Those pulling ahead turned out to be Monsoon, M&S, Inditex (Zara), and Next.

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More information on Labour Behind the Label website