from berlin, coming up next, we've got a documentary for you looking at the dark side of the champagne industry. don't forget, you can get all the latest news and information anytime you want on our website, w dot com on terry market. thanks for the do these do for fun vide do gravitational waves squeeze out body? how do i the drums until the feet and what's the perfect kid for approx side? find the on says yes, with dw signs on the picked up channels. to the heart of sean pioneer and national, you can see there's money here. major champagne brands are enjoying record sales,

but the people at the other end of the value chain face a very different feed problem. i thought i worked for 4 days to the left without paying exploitation, human trafficking slaves like labor reports, because when i think how it used to be where we are today, all because of profits, it makes me say some good or can show on your affluence is just opposed with abject poverty. so when you see this, you must stop. it will still be the, the town of echo ne, in northeastern france, the center of the world famous champagne industry, says display avenue dish. sonya levin shall find them. it is,

most of the big brands are here at rubbish. schmidt, stephanie videos, and shaka nice belonged to an international collective of journalists there in sometime here for the harvest season to investigate what's behind the industry's glamorous facade. so the fancy buildings, well, it's clearly affluent. many of the major champagne grants are backed by large corporations, luxury conglomerates and investors. business is booming in 2020, to the industry, so record turnover of more than 6000000000 euros to maintain these profits. someone 100000 seasonal workers are needed for the great harvest. every year they go to look at the crates and they've with us the level where they put the groups as well . i'm se, yes is supported by journalism funds. europe. the reporters are researching

a story they hope to publish in german and french media, investigating whether there's illegal exploitation and human trafficking image champagne industry. so that's how they work. they do a very strenuous and eventually some people are adequately paid. lee is also a buckle like to multi point of therapy in cases of people house and terrible conditions. of course, this isn't the norm, but it does happen. but that was really to me yet, and we want to see exactly what's going on and what sort of deals can excuse plastic victim. yeah. because because your lots of people who come here from eastern europe, africa and asia don't know their rights. she couldn't spell it and sometimes if they don't dare defend themselves against abuses, say that because i'm or if you g, i knew i feel your situation is the, do not have a civil income and that's why they are ready to do any kind of job. then i'll start photographer i,

journalist the. i would like to tell you the story. the reporters have no idea that this harvest season will mark a milestone with hundreds of new cases of exploitation. i'm human traffic and coming to light to begin and they want to find out more about the actual great harvest on the big non families champagne estate. the worst day begins before dawn. don't go on with me. she has been married a wine maker 30 years ago. she helped out in the kitchen during harvest season. these days it's a thriving family business, and she's in charge of the great picking teams to seek to use. the hard list is hard work. the press has to be fed. grapes have to be picked off, so please, no one is here to sit around to see these or they want to harvest, harvest harvest factor. yes. the polish workers are already waiting outside.

they're directly employed by the family and live here on the grounds. in this, there are 9 of them here, and there are 14 others and another building time with awesome. everyone prepares their lunch here to take to the vineyards. this year the harvest starts in early september, when temperatures can still reach over 40 degrees celsius. as the sun rises, the work begins. each of the harvest workers will take several 100 kilos of grades today. well, michelle, make sure there aren't too many leaves in the crates. the reporters ask the workers how they cope with the heat. we finished work earlier because the summer was the burning hours king with the volume for less hours of work it's it hurts but the some of us

take medicine or have a different way for a buck. bang. darya is a student. this is her 2nd hard. the season with a big enough family. others have been doing it for more than 10 years and take time off from their actual jobs to come. that much one in 10 days it's for fall into it's too much like it's. yeah. you can count on that much money in 10 days. on a good slope. darya can earn more than 150 euros a day. the prospect of a decent wage like this is attractive. many wine growers now outsource the harvesting to service providers that recruit and manage teams of for and workers. me sure they know prefers to do it all herself, even though it's sometimes hard to communicate with the workers. so home, the facade of the service providers are useful. i just, for instance,

i don't speak any polish, and the workers don't speak french will speak english, but otherwise we communicate with gestures. so i prefer to have my own teams much better. if you work with a service provider, you need to ask how the people are being accommodated to school and where come on and under what conditions. the winemaker has seen outsourcing grow over the years as major brands want to maximize profits, but she's still stays true to her way. i'm happy there, beautiful grapes. my son can work well with ease of college. nearby her son, shaw is awaiting the harvest. he studied city culture before taking over the state . this is his 3rd harvest season. was my competitor, this is where i take over as soon as the grapes arrive, we start the process and then we make one and it takes 4 tons for one,

load. the young winemaker has plans to improve the vineyard, as according to the law or regulating champagne production, the grapes have to be hand picked to avoid any damage. we want to plant ivy and fruit treats with you can't only think in terms of profit loss with a heat right now when the harvest workers want to take a break. there is no shaking bush, so it's a project that's close to my heart. so that's one, that's not what he can look at best, but not everyone has such a whole. some approach domain producers have financial goals to meet and around 2 thirds of the harvest go to the big brands. industry leader l. v in age produces more than $70000000.00 bottles a year. so they know those goals are more modest. he's happy with the 70000 bottles there hoping to produce we went out into the cold to prune the vice scott on the tractor to attend to them. it took time and energy,

and in the end we got something great because we won't be drinking this wind for another 4 or 5 years. so you need to bear that in mind too diverse. they know champagne overseen from start to finish by shows will be ready later in 2024. but there's already a reason to celebrate. oh no, we've started the last press. so now we can take a deep breath with a toast to end the day. one of the tables calling you on a to and other day done 14000 kilos picked 1.3, hector was processed. everything went well off as a deficit. so here's, do you know, most of them here's to you all think many one, growers and brand stick to the rules. but there are also some black sheep in the industry back in may. and we've heard that people arrive at the station looking for work and the harvest by investment. they sleep in the park outside and wait for sub

contractors to come along and offer them. we're interested that are these photos uploaded by hardly anyone here wants to speak out against the sub contractors. finally, someone agrees to talk to us secure. what are you waiting for? we just bought the 12 by i'm looking for work a deal. are you expecting sub contractors? yes, they don't have you been offered for liaison? yes, but for 50 or 60 years a day or so. i won't do that. it's not enough. but the use of lives in lee is he's here because he needs the money. we always have you ever had problems before then? yes, 2 or 3 times people came along. i went with one of them, worked for 4 days and then he left without paying cuts about. so it goes that's how

it works here. so use it is holding out for a decent offer until then he'll sleep here in the park. back in the vineyards, a team from the powerful french trade union, c g t has come to show solidarity with the workers c g t general secretary sabine delaney is a trained nurse. now she's fighting for the rights of seasonal workers take on to the press, but there's a settlement. there's a code of silence. we don't know how many people are affected by you. maybe it's only a few cases. but even one case is one to many parts without having to sit on the top of the, the front of our job is to make sure that nobody is employed here under slavery like conditions of all your perform discovered during the harvest season. the c g

t team is in the vineyards every day, speaking with a great pickers. an opponent on it, we're here to talk to the harvest workers and been sick because the trouble is they won't talk. they won't say anything of them. they're afraid of losing their jobs. no one talks in the vineyards for her. there's also a language barrier that we don't mean where do you sleep in terms of thunder, a tar bullen to the english into the longer. so that's the thing or was it the language barrier is a big problem. if it still we give them the leaflets so they can read them packed and perhaps with the help of some of the french who can explain to them why we're here. pulling it out, if they do have problems, they only come to us after the grape harvest to them when they need more information. the this group of bulgarians also

worked for service provider. the fields belong to a large producer, shift the boss, and they put in a problem. if there are problems and here's our phone number. yeah, give us a call. i will answer all your questions. the problem was the sound of just call. here's our number. we will answer your questions. i'm good to know. where do you sleep? uh, body body harris. you're going back to paris in the evening here. yes. 100 kilometers on the legally, the workers have to have an 11 hour break between shifts. the union is suspect, this rule isn't to being observed, but the c g t is not an official investigating authority to complete the complicated just yet. the boss says he's going to drive 100 kilometers to spend the night somewhere and come back the next day. it will be under the we don't know if it's a 100 kilometers, are more likely only the workers can say to oregon. we can only find out if they're

being cheated. if they come to us. well, we can't just guess what's happening up of you know, to put on a coupon. but it's up to the laborers themselves to report problems. only labor inspectors and police can take action against exploitation in the vineyards. but both declined our interview quest. the the reporters turn to the corporation of champagne, one growers, which comprises several 1000 medium sized wine growers. joseph gunnar, thanks for seeing us. versus of course please don't penny the winemaker himself and has been active in the association for years where we need to be don't play out. we bring the wine growers together and host

events where various issues are flagged. it's usually such as working conditions or social issues and or their official matters or a new spots. these gifts. cool. what can you tell us about service providers? i don't know if it's, well, there are lots of small businesses and shop on you off with us on the front. it's sometimes hard for them to find workers you don't care for and it's becoming increasingly difficult to recruits people locally. that's why we've seen an increase in outsourcing and recent years. go to tell us the process, you know, for the repair, because we provide information on this on an committee. castro care for the ssl that you have about to when you work with a service provider, you have to follow certain rules and make sure you check everything on the sites. is an order. so do you guys strongly speak the concord? i think 3, april 2 is the awareness of the conditions paper work in the show. it seems the same problems arise year after year on any supposed to just i wouldn't say every year when those to the grape harvest is a lucrative business. it's all

a to model and unfortunately the trucks sometimes dishonest people who made their, fortunately, but it was more a live. okay. after we finish filming the wine makers present several proposals. there is to be more accommodation for workers. the work should be better organized and above all stricter rules should apply to the service providers. whether this will actually come to be remains to be seen shows a blown go, has worked in the champagne industry for 36 years. today. he's a trade unionist and tackles the exploitation of workers by sub contractors. he starts work early when one parties, most of them aren't even earning a 100 zeros a day. they get between 40 and 50 years. that's below the going rate. is only the over the years and entire system has evolved here with the support of the

industry. and the authorities simply look the other way. companies. no one will be happy that we're digging around. these reports to the book we're going to, you know, start off for a while, then see that van over there. it's just arrive when a good opportunity, then we'll feel the people are watching subsidy. they know we're here in the course of his campaign against exploitation shows a has met the minister of labor and been in touch with the local politicians about visiting the vineyards. this work makes them a target. tea and the reporters are clearly under observation. it's a french license plate, a local one. what is this guy want? me that he's the only watching us. yes, the he's on the phone. keep an eye on all the time. shows

a is undeterred. he knows that some of the sub contractors come to this car park to recruit workers. i'm going to wait. you can see the buses arriving here from various places and also from parents that definitely and dropping people off looking for work in the vineyards. the so the no one dropped off here stays with the wind growers. otherwise they'd be taken directly to the vineyards in don't coast said ok, that's a long commute. natalia post absolutely. some of been traveling for 2 hours. now they're waiting to see where they will be said. joseph long ago was convinced that some of the subcontractors are part of organized criminal networks. okay, the best sense, so there are people orchestrating it all the video. oh yeah. and it's a team leader so to speak. and the supervisor is full of this show. we go over

and talk to them, you know, call me i'd rather not easy for them. it's all well organized and secret is totally get them. so i'm worried about my safety a recent case showed that criminal activity does indeed exist after seasonal workers reported a sub contractor network. the service provider was convicted of human trafficking in 2022. of the self assessing in the for to this is one of the photos published in the local press. it over. you can see workers sleeping on mattresses on the floor so. so the matter though, most of them were asylum seekers and putting them on to that in the journal. this shot, a nice knows how powerless people can feel. in such situations. he fled from

afghanistan, defense himself after being in touch with one of the seasonal workers from the court case for a while. you shocked me some for an interview in paris. c for to an advisor is also from afghanistan. this is the 1st time since the ruling that he's speaking publicly about, the criminal network that exploited him. in general, the we were told that we'd have a room for 2 people who knew that everything was clean and tidy and that there would be food need them. when we got there, everything was different, but there was only one big room, add ons, no beds, and no mattress. it's i know for sure. we slept on the floor. you've got that number and you didn't sign any contracts that when we applied for the job they didn't give us a contract number. i worked for 5 days without a contract and then i told them if you don't give me a contract,

i won't work here anymore. that's why i called the police it, i mean the police michigan. okay. tell me more about the working conditions side of the work was very hard. we worked until just before midnight. now, in the morning we got up around 5 or 6, like there were $36.00 people and one rooms, and there was only one toilet fast enough. but within that, the user, these days, if i to live at cfo, has a job with a proper contract in paris, his statements resulted in the biggest case of human trafficking and champagne year to date. many of the of gun workers were represented by a lawyer based in the city of loans. bullshit, marshall used to take part in the great harvest as a student himself, a lot has changed since then not known as years. nobody's reached. the court is

right in the middle of the region. they only know, and now it's also dealing with this industries in activity they couldn't measure. it's a major economic factor here, which you know, that is going to be that cool, but we weren't used to dealing with it in a criminal court. the not casa, and then we heard a case that turned out to be huge. ok, pointed to natalie. the lawyer agrees to talk about it. he says that even now, more than a year after the ruling, many questions remain unanswered. dates on politics. it's, you know, it was an extraordinary trial and more fluid spend one point in your but in terms of the outcome. it was extremely frustrating through the next 10 1st ice, you just a moment was able, the verdict was frustrating or visual 9 gong on the launch on pan. uh, we saw a very large champagne brand that outsourced to a sub contractor, which in turn notes sourced to another sub contractor. uh, i knew to apply,

so she did buy special and sale he's the court looked at the 2nd and 3rd levels to create the book. she buckled, but at the top of the pyramid, old with someone who was supposed to supervise the grape harvest on behalf of the big champagne brand. we live on the ocean. this person slipped through the naturally made these last looks like a wooden. do you get the impression that an industry and some important players were being protected like the measure? liquidation where there's shown vanya odds and regions is relies to a large extent on wine growing like that. now the professional appreciate, don't think of a fussy know you can't help thinking the case targeted the people doing the enforcing usually the whole not those giving the orders may happen while doing all this, of course does not apply to the whole industry but evidence again some sub

contractors is piling up back in the vineyard. this young man who works for a sub contractor of a major champagne producer wants to remain anonymous. i'm too afraid of his statement. sounds familiar. i received no contact from all nothings. and what was about 2 o'clock today. so the one in the room for the little cuz sometimes who gets along sometimes with the list, some guy in good faith like 400 zeros for working 10 days. you live in this for the same guy you're working for a for another thing that i got all the reporters here, similar accounts over the following days. the image of sean han yet has been tarnished, says trade unionists, visuals. a blanco. it's high time to stop exploitive sub contractors. he says in the interest of big brands as rival products, such as a tally and pros. seco are becoming more popular with us,

possibly legal for you. we hope that the employers, especially the main brands, will sit down together and put an end to this, to these people. all right? the software for the, for the sake of the image and the future of champagne. what i don't know who default we're fighting for our jobs. our industry for our region utilize, you know, call your shows a blonde go, was born and jump on you and worked in the industry for decades. his own son works in the vineyards during the harvest. he maintains, there's been systematic exploitation for a long time. inadequate accommodation for workers is one issue over another camp, semi illegal, let it on. yeah. last year they put labels on the done events just now this year. there are stickers for separated trash cancer subsidies, which means they've been provided by the municipality over the past on a to morning. that means every one of the may or the unit suppose the age from and

the municipality. in fact, tensor officially forbidden, in this part of champ, anya, yet illegal comes to be found all along the roadside up in the forest. the conditions are especially shocking and informative towards your se. together with your colleague noels, don't say, let's just say wants to see for himself. know where. yeah, that looks like a bench and table problems, resolutely unconditioned steps to. so it's a proper account. there was a cam here, but now everyone's gone. looks good with the completed on you to camp they're looking for is believe to be further north west before i think we have to go past the vineyard. all right, let's go. what did they find? what they're looking for at the edge of the forest makes shift tens. no toilet, no water connection. multiple plugs in wet grass shows a is outraged problem,

so she's running or even after a long day in the vineyard is in the rain. imagine coming back in the evening to conditions like this, with catastrophic motion. is there a wild boars? and these, for the most part, i can just see them dropping by in the evening. this will get all for it also looks like there are children living here. suddenly a woman appears with her daughter. they don't want to be filmed way. okay, that's okay. we want from what's the boss is name? i don't know. we've only been here for 2 or 3 days. big is everything. okay. my husband is going to work and i'm here with my daughter. do you work in the vineyards too? yes. while the men wait, stephanie listens to the woman's story. a to z. let them any. she's from romania. she came here with her husband and the rest of

her family or somebody and they were promised the proper accommodation with the toilet. but when they arrive on x, there was nothing here. you know how they did what it did she days on to that? that's human trafficking. absolutely. did she, i'm a traffic, i'll call the labor department and that's how it works. and trump on the and that's how it works here. we condemn it. and i'll put this isn't about the union, this is about these people, not cities, or wherever they are from their human beings. we can't allow this to happen though . it has to stop to be something after we finish filming the reporters, the footage of people in catastrophic accommodation given in edible food. it's clear that these are no isolated cases. by the end of the season, hundreds of new victims of modern slavery have been discovered with ongoing investigations into unpaid wages, totaling millions and 2 new cases of human trafficking. a sorry indictment of one

of the richest regions in the world. the stars is restarted to understand clearly what you need to do for us. ukraine was assembled. are we moving towards europe or not? 2015 for democracy, protests and ukraine. the country release of the response to your crime. this dispute of freedom should to west, has recognized the danger in terms of the frontal and all the signs, but that we really understand this are easily fail. uh,

we will lose our concepts, euro my done stuff, february 17th on t, w. the these kinds of ships, once gabby goulds and merchandise that are on the word, the button after that time is up. 80 percent of them end up as hazardous waste sites on. so the she ensures like go down in buckets done alone in india, and she'll go on the bundle dish. i'm going to, i mean it didn't cost and endangering workers. today we explore bon whether she has, she told me she breaking yard to assess the human and environmental tools of the she breaking industry.