Starvation wages, overtime, child labor: precarious working conditions prevail on palm oil plantations in Indonesia. This is revealed by research conducted by the human rights organization Amnesty International.

It is found in chocolate bars, shampoos, detergents and countless other everyday products: palm oil. In order to meet the huge demand of international manufacturing companies, huge areas of rainforest are being cleared and palm oil plantations established around the world.
The largest plantation operator is the agro-corporation Wilmar, based in Singapore. In order to find out what working conditions are like on the plantations, Amnesty International (AI) spoke to around 120 workers on site in Indonesia and filmed them with a hidden camera.

"Systematic exploitation"
The result is alarming: "People are working until they are completely exhausted below the minimum wage, without health protection or pension provision," says Beat Gerber, media spokesperson for AI Switzerland, to the SRF consumer magazine "Espresso". These are not just isolated cases; the exploitation of workers is "systematic".
The Amnesty employees also note that children are also forced to work. The youngest are just 8 years old. They carry heavy palm fruit sacks instead of going to school. And like everyone else, they are exposed to toxic herbicides that pollute the air.

Wilmar acknowledges the problems. Amnesty International has confronted the palm oil giant Wilmar with the devastating results of the investigation. The company admits to AI that there are problems with working conditions. The company employs many thousands of workers on its plantations and cannot control everything.

This is problematic because Wilmar, together with other producers and large multinational corporations such as Nestlé, Unilever and Colgate, adorn their products with the RSPO label. This was launched to ensure environmental protection and good working conditions in the palm oil sector.
AI is now accusing the companies involved of fraudulent labeling and "abusing" the round table in order to circumvent controls. The human rights organization is calling for producers and international multinationals to finally fulfil their duty of care and improve working conditions.
Nestlé Switzerland: "No palm oil from Wilmar"
"Espresso" asked several companies for a reaction to the Amnesty report. Two have responded:
Nestlé Switzerland said that it does not purchase palm oil from Wilmar for Swiss products. On the international market, 10 percent of Nestlé products are sourced from Wilmar. Nestlé does not accept the conditions on the plantations revealed by AI and is offering a hand to improve them.
Unilever writes that it welcomes the investigation by Amnesty International. It also believes that more needs to be done to solve the problems in the palm oil sector. What exactly is not known.
http://www.srf.ch/news/international/auf-palmoelplantagen-muessen-auch-kinder-schuften