The orange juice is a several 1000000000. 00 industry. Brazil was the Worlds Largest citrus producer. Here on almost 600000 hectors of land oranges are grown. Some of them becoming germanys favorite jews. Thousands make their living picking oranges. But there is much to criticize about their working conditions. Youre under extreme pressure, an accident happens because theyre concentrating on the harvest and getting caraway scarlet. Most of the scots, which are on top of a ladder with heavy bag on your shoulders on excuse. They should treat us like human beings. Hes not like live stock. Sure. And we depend on them, but they also depend on us. You see who else is going to pick the oranges . Is there any truth to these accusations . We embark on a journey to brazil to investigate . How is the orange juice produced there . The the 4 30 am the many orange pickers in the state of south palo are already on their feet. Among them is a phone, so like any other day, he has 8 hours of work ahead of him. As like a fellow, the biggest, including this canister, was 5 liters of water. No, thats not enough for a days work. The sun is too strong. I need 2 of these kind of stairs to get through the day. Are you drinking 10 leaders a day . Yes, exactly. The sun is very homes and temperatures on the plantations can reach up to 35 degrees celsius directly under the sun. It feels even hotter. For 6 years, alfonso has been picking oranges for the juice industry from monday to saturday. And a good month t earns about 250. 00 ers. That is more than the brazilian minimum wage yet he barely manages to make ends meet for himself, his wife and their daughter. Last one, just as you know, i honestly, i like the word so many dont think of, i dont, but everyone here need some need. They have to work by many, also have a fabulous glenview. You can get by with what you are, where theres nothing, but ill save it. Is tyrese remote, even though its hard. I want my doctor to have what i didnt have no matter how hard is su, am me, its in to the phone. So his wife also used to work as an orange picker. Now he is the sole bread winner because i phone so wed like to spare her the work in the fields past and sophie mandell. Can i have a feel for it . The main on this is phase now. Sol, which i dont want her to suffer like i advise you, work in the sun. Rain cold stream. He is physically exhausting. A fog weighs 27 q lose. Thats too much crossing. I mean, i dont mean for women in general, the other, for my wife from me, i dont want her to have to endure what i go through in the field. You go, boss, my awesome. Ok to come up on what exactly do off on so and his colleagues experience in the field. We want to accompany them. But filming the pictures that work is not so easy as were about to find out the will be that china, the village where our phone, so lives is rather remote, just around 5000 people normally live here. But between may and december, that number can grow to 6000. This is because the region around will be that shot out, which is in the state of south how low is home to most of brazils orange plantations. Many are Seasonal Workers who come to the village from northeastern brazil, some 2000 kilometers away, where people have fewer opportunities to earn money and sell palo. They work for a few months each year before returning home after the harvest is finished, the to reach the plantations. A phone so has to travel by bus for 45 minutes. The ride is organized by the company, but the workers arent compensated for this time. The we would like to accompany a phone so, but his employer wont give us permission. We ask on other plantations to, but do not get permission to shoot. Most claim. Its due to cobit 19 security measures, but our team has attracted attention in the area. It seems we are being watched the ability to have to but some of the we were hoping to visit a phone. So in his family again in the afternoon. But thats not possible anymore. The plantation owner has informed the phone so that he has violated his contract. The apartment he rents is provided by his employer. And according to the contract, hes not allowed to let outside hers and including us. Even though our visit was arranged with that phone, so a supervisor the day before a phone so is banned from working for 11 days, losing almost half of his monthly salary at our fonts, those requests, we do not contact his employer. But we ask the association of brazils majors, citrus producers, citrus b, r. To clarify the situation it is not possible to obtain Accurate Information about the alleged incident. However, it is likely that depending on the companys code of conduct, the employee has signed a contract for bidding them to disclose internal Company Information which may be considered serious misconduct. The since we are still being watched, we call off the shoot without phone. So we dont want him to get into any more trouble the fact that our visit had such drastic consequences for our phone so raises more questions for us. How exactly does the orange industry work in brazil . Around 75 percent of the worlds, the orange juice exports come from the country to make it workers pick between 65 and 110000000000 oranges a year by hand. The industry is dominated by 3 Multi National companies. Louis dreyfus, citrus circle, and controller. They are responsible for a large part of the juice. Exports about half of the oranges for global jews production come from their own plantations. The other half comes from independent farmers who supply the industry the days after we last saw a phone. So we finally get permission to shoot at an orange field in south palo. The visit is organized by the Jews Companies association on the plantation of one of their suppliers, the unlike in supermarkets back home, the oranges he here are green and yellow. This has nothing to do with writing this, but rather with the temperature, the green chlorophyll, and the po only breaks down below 12 degrees celsius. And this is what makes them orange. In this field, 30 workers pick oranges for consumption in brazil and the global juice industry the, using the latter. The workers picked the fruit from the trees which are up to 5 meters tall. Filled sacks weighs about 2070 load the Box Community beginning i did everything wrong for me and now i knew it didnt work for tree from top to bottom. And one go, well, when i started, man, i picked all the trees individually, just at the bottom for frontier, then i picked them all again, individual article up just at the top. I think the boxes up say die. We are in the wrong place. It was very complicated for vehicles because we noticed the tremendous speed at which the workers pick with their bare hands. Each of them harvest its about 1. 00 tons of oranges a day. So on average, each one fails just under 827. 00 t lo bags per hour. Those who cant keep up this fast paced risk losing their job. At least according to the union. A we made a policy though peaceful. He works for the agricultural union, fed i ask, which also conducts independence studies documenting the working conditions. On the plantations. I the call around the time, you know, theyre going to not those companies only keep the workers who take a certain amount sample to be able to do the job next year to they have to harvest an average of 60 back. In addition to the box known as the got to include constantly exerts pressure. The, this is because of his salary also depends on how much the workers harvest kept him up to the mice. The 1000000000. 00 Jews Companies pay the legal minimum wage of 1200. 00 re eyes. The equivalent of around 200. 00 euro is a month regardless of the amount harvested this wages barely enough to survive in brazil. Thats why, according to the union, many workers tried to collect even more, so they can top up their pay with bonuses. A, we need to be up hub on that, all director of the citrus b. R. The association of the 3 jews, giants. He is the voice of the brazilian orange juice industry. He explains that the productivity principle is there to reward those who work hardest. This increases an average salary to about 280 or rose. Although natural states that he does not know the specific quantities, workers are expected to harvest, he struggles to understand the criticism of the productivity principal. Let me find a new one. Every job you have to reach a searching in order to continue working on people. That doesnt seem strange to me, but if you have a certain goal and it has to be achieved with it, i dont see why it should be any different with an orange canada. Just sit each page here on the plantation where the association has given us permission to film conditions appear ideal ep. How about mental assures us that what we see here is common practice. Across the citrus industry, workers are wearing personal protective equipment, goggles and gloves against the sharp, thorns of the trees and leg protection against poisonous snake bites. These are required by labor law on all orange farms. The Industry Association assures us this is also written in the contracts with their suppliers and orange pickers. But the union tells us a different story. With the unions help, we find a small plantation in south hollow where we shoot unnoticed and without permission. Here things look very different. Some of the workers dont have snake protection or gloves as we cannot say with certainty whether these oranges are also intended for jews. But what we see here is no exception. Say the trade unionists also introduce industry the above by head the agrees the 70 year old has dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of brazilian orange pickers. He was the head of the fed. I asked for union until 2017 no, he is now retired above the head though still maintains close contact with the workers and it will be that yada. Which is how he learns firsthand about the conditions on the plantations. Let me see what else the top bottom about the books to the workers rarely have any protective equipment, especially at the smaller suppliers and where conditions are worse, these they do not follow health and safety regulations. Going to buy companies have been allowed to outsource work since 2017 this means that they can hand over work and responsibility for it to 3rd parties, including individuals. As the ministry of labor explains, its especially the sub contractors who often lack the Financial Resources for protective gear or compliance with labor laws. The, as out sourcing has grown since 2017, the problems for orange bakers have grown to the spin. Yay susceptible isnt the most s, i think, but is laws and all that. Im said we always find violations when 3rd Party Companies are involved me stop by and stop by the door to door. Man. Are the working conditions of a smaller producers . Are often not the same as those of the Big Companies that purchase the fruit. Prosecutors jose my through right now has been monitoring labor law violations for 25 years, including on orange plantations. On site inspections are part of his job time and again he encounters on registered pickers working off the books. He describes to us the violations he encounters when inspecting workers, the motor, diesel or their Living Conditions are precarious in each, but they have no personal protective equipment thing. Did you do all . This is what pictures of former inspection show in the last 7 years. The ministry of labor in south hollow has recorded over 1300 violations, mainly among the industry, smaller suppliers. As the prosecutor tells us, in the notes they look color, they plowed the positive sort of face. So theres often no place for workers to have a proper meal. Or even toilet suffering. We also see the mishandling of Agro Chemicals. The cool money is with level books. And his colleagues usually carry out inspections on the basis of specific complaints. For a few years now, the number of inspections has been decreasing. What is the reason for this, the inspections are not a priority for politicians. The prosecutor explains. Since the country has been in a severe economic crisis, funds have been caught and theres a lack of personnel and on site inspections need just that time money and personnel also because they can only take place with police protection. No, follow them as a federal site. I think the eyes of singled us for kids last, most of them was well get all of the name, was it that we dont conduct the inspections without security personnel . What was that . Because we never know the level of hostility will encounter on this. And we often encounter supervisors who are prone to violence, but i do anyway, numerous workers reporting to events. And with those weve, its often drummed into the government inspection is there to take away their jobs instead of improving their conditions. So thats why we only go with securities. Well stick with us. We ask the pub annette, though, what does he know about the conditions on the plantations, especially with independent suppliers . So sequence of mucus, so lets get that out by loan on saw for the actual designers. The date of this nonsense date of loss is 4 minus the so some people work in the field every year. You know, we cannot guarantee use it in our fields. Is she doing the fields of the industry, even with more working conditions, lloyd in our state of the art the do, do food and our suppliers are encouraged, moved to see things by train to do their nicest. Besides, if someone doesnt sleep by the rules, she fail game that has to be address. We could use a hag, a, b, i. E. So think so violations are the perception of going to not the rule that is gonna sell la is this so no way i have this whether thats true or not, we can say however, prosecutor is jose, my put on our reports that conditions did not improve during the pandemic, and he describes further problems. Ultima is best, so not a mazda pick them as a lot to me or the person mother. I mean to, during the last inspection of an orange plantation, we discovered a group of about 37. 00 workers. It was the cold seasons looked at, some of them were living in apartments without bedding, without adequate mattresses sink without protection from the cold the force of the cloud st. Thats so a cool though for you. We also witnessed similar Housing Conditions, but can show them only in part to protect the workers. This is accommodation that companies rent to migrant workers. These images show footage from 2020 by swiss n g o. Public di workers living in cramped quarters and broken mattresses. Hardly any furniture. Hardly without protection from the often chilly evening temperatures between june and august and south palo, the, the unions to report poor Housing Conditions. The thing, what more does your room there are no decent beds, no bathroom, no decent place to rest before going to work the next day. The conditions in many houses are terrible. And the next morning they have to get up without having properly recovered to go back to picking oranges in the field. Citrus producers, citrus who go with raleigh and Louis Dreyfus right to inform us that their Housing Conditions meet the required standards. No official figures or information on housing is available for the independent suppliers, the trade unionist, a policy though baseball is in contact with many workers in the region. He says that despite for housing or working conditions, many are too afraid to complain or file a lawsuit. I think this could you, i wont be caught you the keels side. You can check on leslies the companys people record to the workers who complain and they can forget about being hired against us on this on this practice should be bad. People shouldnt risk beings unrestored, demanding the right says look, and ill send you a much better to present a scroll saw through the companies blacklisting workers. Can it be true . The, our team meets a local lawyer who wants to remain anonymous on all costs for fear of the companies. He knows several workers who are not satisfied, but the fear of possible consequences from filing a complaint is great. He forwards us a voice message from one of his clients to set up a problem with the addition. Please get or get about my complaint about. We need this work on my family and i cant afford to lose this job. Please excuse me. We start get up. What can we do to get go 5, the boy, the Industry Association, citrus be our rights to us. The companies are regularly audited by both the ministry of labor and the unions. This shows that ways to launch complaints exist and are effective. It is important to highlight that brazilian legislation guarantees that any worker can claim their rights in a court of law. Ringback during our research, we learned that its especially workers on the suppliers, plantations. The smaller and independent companies who are not always well protected. We are on our way to meet former farmer here need b as all the we dont know what working conditions were like for him in the field called but he tells us that he too was under enormous pressure as a supplier. No, no, i mean if you dont need yes watching my and i wonder if hes writing e b as a feeder. Who didnt did he worked as an orange farmer for 30 years. All of a sudden i have to give it to the bottom, leave everything behind there. So im left with sadness, yours, my memories. So the g. Elaine business on his 60 hectors of land, he farmed oranges, which he sold to controlling and citrus to go to major of citrus exporters. He did not have fixed contracts for the regular purchase of his oranges. He says, the big industry players only bought oranges when the harvest from their own fields was not enough. The Purchase Price often fluctuate. At times he says he had to sell his oranges at absurdly low prices. Indian, he could no longer cover the costs of production and harvesting, and it was costing him too much to maintain his plantation for fits that are about 3. 00 times a month to his doctor, 2 years i worked with the lower and dedication regarding until i was so indebted there will be to god, but i have to give up everything you can, which is very sad with the cities the as on the is 75, and it will take him at least 4 more years. He calculates to pay off his dads. He recently joined a Class Action Lawsuit in london against the jews giant controller, represented by the law firm p g m b m. More than 1500 former farmers are suing for financial compensation. The allegation is that to trial a was part of a car towel that colluded to push down the Purchase Price of oranges, bankrupting S