On 11 April during a press conference held in Berlin, representatives of the German services union Verdi, several of Brazil’s trade unions, and the Christian initiative Romero criticized precarious working conditions prevailing in orange juice production in Brazil and they presented the goals of an international union network called ‘Exchain Netzwerk Orangensaft’ that was set up in 2015. According to Stefanie Nutzenberger, Verdi management member, the unions intend to put pressure on the large German distributors such as Edeka, Rewe, Lidl, Kaufland, and Aldi so that they take their corporate social responsibilities seriously and that they work to improve working conditions all along the orange juice sector’s supply chain.
Precarious work. Author of the study ‘Squeeze Out: The truth behind the orange juice business’ (link to the full study), Sandra Dusch from the NGO Christliche Initiative Romero e.V. (CIR)1 recalled that the orange juice market was in the hands of a limited number of multinational companies.
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