Fairtrade flowers sold in some of Britain’s biggest supermarkets are picked by workers earning as little as 48p an hour, The Mail on Sunday reveals today.
Some of those who pluck roses in stifling greenhouses in Kenya for outlets including Sainsbury’s and the Co-op receive just £96 a month.
This is far below a living wage for the region, estimated to be £162 a month in a report commissioned in 2016 by Fairtrade.
The packhouse floor at the Oserian, a rose growers in Naivasha, in the Great Rift Valley,Kenya
The Fairtrade Foundation, which campaigns against exploitation of growers, yesterday launched an investigation of its own after being presented with The Mail on Sunday’s findings.
‘Fairtrade takes all allegations of exploitative working conditions very seriously and are shocked and saddened by these claims,’ said Michael Gidney, chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation.
Its logo is a familiar sight to shoppers, indicating that goods on display from developing nations have been produced ethically.
Fairtrade-certified flower farms receive a minimum price from supermarkets and workers receive a ‘Fairtrade Premium’ – money that is invested in projects to improve their livelihoods. But The Mail on Sunday found that some workers living in slums around Lake Naivasha – a large flower-growing area north west of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi – are earning far less than the estimated living wage for the region of 22,104 Kenyan shillings (£162) a month.
According to the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union, the lowest-paid workers at Oserian, a farm certified by Fairtrade, receive a starting salary of only 10,746 Kenyan shillings (£80) a month. When housing allowance is added, it comes to 13,000 Kenyan shillings (£96).
Fairtrade roses on sale in Sainsbury’s are picked by workers as little as 48p per hour
The flower-pickers typically work 46 hours a week over six days meaning that the lowest paid get just 48p an hour. Producing a recent payslip showing monthly earnings of 13,000 Kenyan shillings, a single mother said she was struggling to provide for her two-year-old son.
The woman, who asked not to be named for fear of losing her job, said: ‘They [the bosses] don’t care about you. All they care is that you go and produce the flowers to be exported.’
Despite the intense heat inside the greenhouses, bosses expect workers to pick 2,400 roses in an eight-hour shift. The lowest paid at Oserian would need to work for more than a day and a half to earn enough to buy a single bunch of the £6.50 roses sold in Sainsbury’s.
Mr Gidney said all Oserian’s workers received more than Kenya’s minimum wage but added: ‘You are correct that workers receive less than a living wage. We are working towards a living wage for workers in the Fairtrade system, but we are not there yet.’ Oserian said ‘seasonal’ workers are paid a basic wage of 10,746 Kenyan shillings (£80) a month, but permanent employees get a basic wage of 15,732 Kenyan shillings (£117), plus at least 24 days paid holiday. Around 200 ‘short-term staff’ currently earn the lower rate.
It said most employees live in free accommodation and that benefits, including electricity, healthcare, schooling and transport, brought the value of a permanent worker’s pay package to 23,694 Kenyan shillings (£175) a month – above the estimated living wage.
Fairtrade received £18 million from the Department for International Development between 2011 and 2016. DFID said none of it went directly to flower farms.
Last year it emerged that Oserian had ordered an audit into how £760,000 of Fairtrade funds were distributed by community representatives amid bribery claims.
Sainsbury’s said yesterday: ‘As the world’s largest Fairtrade retailer, we are extremely concerned by these allegations and are investigating.’ Co-op Food said: ‘We are concerned about issues raised and pleased by the immediacy of the response of Fairtrade to investigate.’