Tesco investigative team calls for corrective action
RAY SMUTS CONCERNS AT the unethical labour practices on some South African fruit farms has prompted British retail giant, Tesco, which buys fruit valued at close to R1 billion from this country annually, to send a top team to investigate and seek solutions. The problem, says Stuart Symington, CEO of the Fresh Produce Exporters' Forum, has much to do with a fairly new agricultural phenomenon – labour brokers – who supply farmers with workers. A female farm worker from Ceres recently managed to gain access to the annual general meeting of Tesco in London, assisted by South African and British NGOs. There she told Tesco chief executive Sir Paul Leahy and his board about the poor living conditions on many South African fruit farms. The upshot was that the retail giant, strong on corporate social responsibility issues, sent Terry Babbs (international trading law & technical director) and Lara Ladipo (ethical trading manager) to South Africa for a week. They communicated the message that South Africa’s labour laws were in some instances not being complied with, and that corrective action needed to be taken – particularly on the labour broking front. The problem first came to Symington’s attention when approached by two major Tesco apple and pear suppliers – Capespan and Fruitways – both of whom are members of the Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum. “This is certainly an industry matter”, claims Symington. “No matter what fruit kind you are sending to whichever supermarket – especially in the UK – there are agreed upon protocols in place. The apparent problem with labour brokers (many of them BEE companies), is that some of them have been guilty of cutting financial corners to the detriment of their labour forces.” For example, when a farmer employs a labourer on his farm, he has to factor unemployment insurance, the Workman’s Compensation Act and leave pay into the wage equation. Essentially, a labour broker who contracts his labour force to a farm is supposed to perform exactly the same financial functions. However, not all labour brokers are this diligent, and while the labour itself may come more cheaply as a result, it is actually unfair on the worker. As to what needs to be done to rectify this serious situation, Symington says: “It will take a concerted, co-ordinated effort to find a sustainable solution for all parties involved. I think the accreditation by the industry of the brokers it uses is a potential solution. But it will require the sanctioning of government, labour, unions, industry associations and the overseas supermarkets.” Symington says Tesco’s total annual spend on all South African fruit is between R750 million and R1 billion a year.
