EU campaign asking Lidl to play fair with tropical fruit growers
The price Lidl and other supermarkets pay for tropical fruit does not cover the real costs of production. Paying such low prices, means that workers can be exploited through the payment of poverty wages, insecure employment, and the denial of their rights to collectively bargain for better wages and conditions.
Low prices can also discourage employers from hiring women, denying them equal access to jobs, training and promotion. And low prices can also discourage companies from investing in improved environmental practices, making fair prices an important factor in work towards environmental sustainability. The campaign is asking Lidl to use the Fairtrade minimum price as the minimum standard in their sourcing.
Earlier this year, Lidl announced it is taking steps to buy all its bananas from 100% sustainable sources this year. But the reality for farmers and workers looks very different. Plantation workers and their families are exposed to toxic pesticides, and suffer from respiratory symptoms, sickness and dizziness. The low income of small-scale farmers and low wages of plantation workers mean their families often can’t cover basic household costs. Plantation workers are often discriminated against or even fired for joining a trade union. Soil and water quality are suffering due to the use of chemical substances. Monocultures and pesticides destroy biodiversity'.
The campaign is calling on Lidl to guarantee that small-scale farmers and plantation workers producing tropical fruit earn an income which enables them to provide for their families and themselves; that all workers are safe in the workplace, and protected from exposure to toxic pesticides; that the trade union rights of workers are respected; and that they pay a fair price for bananas and pineapples to all of their suppliers.
www.banana.link