Will you be enjoying a breakfast Bucks Fizz before the indulgence of the ‘festive’ day begins? Or perhaps you prefer to drink your Champagne neat? Or perhaps, much more likely, you can’t afford to buy it? If, however, you are in the privileged minority who can quaff it like water and who don’t even consider the monetary cost of the item, do you even consider the human cost that goes into producing it?
Exploitation of workers for profit is built into the capitalism system.
‘People employed to pick grapes for France’s luxury champagne brands are being forced to sleep rough and steal food to stave off hunger, an investigation has found.
The Guardian reported that it had found seasonal workers from west Africa and eastern Europe in the town of Epernay in northern France sleeping on the streets or in tents as the vineyards did not provide accommodation.
Dozens of them spent their nights in the doorway of the cinema opposite the town’s main train station, it wrote.
Epernay is home to world’s most expensive champagne brands, including Dom Perignon and Moet & Chandon. Total champagne shipments from the town in 2023 stood at 299 million bottles and generated over €6 billion ($6.25 billion) in revenues, according to the industry body Comite Champagne.
The grape-picking season at Epernay lasts from August to October. This year’s yield was estimated at 10 tons of grapes per hectare.
Some workers interviewed by the publication claimed they were underpaid or not paid at all. Others said they had not been provided with enough food and left without means of buying any, having to resort to stealing.
“They were treated like dogs,” a retired winegrower told The Guardian. “The people who do that aren’t winegrowers: they’re exploiters,” he added.
Last year’s season was reportedly dubbed “the harvest of shame” after four seasonal grape-pickers died due to suspected sunstroke.
In a case scheduled to go to court in March, four people, including a vineyard owner, have been charged with human trafficking.
According to the unions, it is hard to hold specific champagne houses responsible for the exploitation because of a system that involves delegation of responsibilities from one company to another.
Comite Champagne issued a statement to The Guardian expressing shock” at the “shameful practices” and asking authorities to step up controls and severely punish any abuses.
The industry body also reported a drop in shipments in the current year caused by “the sluggish global geopolitical and economic situation and widespread inflation.”’
Below is taken from the Socialist Standard October 2009
‘In the past when Southern Californian fruit growers were faced with a glut and falling prices they let the fruit rot on the trees. When castigated for this apparent madness they pointed out the quite logical capitalist argument that they would have to pay pickers wages for fruit they couldn't sell. When again they were taken to task for this argument they were offered by some charitable organisations the prospect of them supplying free labour and they would distribute to the needy. Again the fruit growers had an answer to that. "Every year charitable organisations buy at cut-rate prices our unsold surplus. Giving it away would even spoil that source of income for us." The fruitgrowers may have appeared heartless but from an economic standpoint letting the fruit rot seemed the logical action. A similar solution is being followed today by French wine producers. “Hopes of a glut of cheap champagne are set to be dashed when vineyards meet next week to agree on a big cut in production to prop up prices. With sales falling, producers may be ordered to leave up to half their grapes to wither on the vine in an attempt to squeeze the market." (London Times, 29 August) Capitalism is a crazy system, obviously inside socialism we would deal with the problem by drinking more champagne.’
aliststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2009/10/voice-from-back.html
No comments:
Post a Comment