Champagne Vineyard Trial: 6 Accused of Exploiting Undocumented Workers

This case dates back to the 2018 harvest season, when an altercation broke out between workers in the vineyards of the Aube. Alerted, the gendarmes intervene and discover on the spot 48 Afghan workers who live in extreme precariousness and without a title, reports Le Parisien. During a second check organized in the Marne, 77 illegal workers are also discovered.

Recruiters go to Paris, notably Porte de la Chapelle, or to Asylum Seeker Reception Centers (CADA): they promise migrants a job in the prestigious Champagne vineyards. They are all transported to Reims and entrusted to the care of two other wine subcontractors who own vineyards. Other workers are sent by these companies to the vineyards of small owners or large houses.

Among the companies that recruit these migrant workers is a former production manager of a centuries-old Champagne house. For the prosecution, the company is not being prosecuted, probably because it was not aware of the actions of its employee. As for the former manager, he could not ignore that the workers employed on these plots were not in a regular situation.

According to the same media, the migrants work for more than 12 hours and are fed with spoiled meat as the only meal, with rationed water despite exhausting work and unworthy living conditions. In short, it is "modern slavery in the prestigious vineyards of Champagne. According to Matthieu Bourrette, the Reims prosecutor, these 6 men and women - as well as three companies - are on trial for "employment of foreigners without a work permit", or "subjection of vulnerable persons to unworthy housing conditions" to the detriment of 24 foreign employees. Even if they all contest these accusations for the time being, two managers of a company are suspected of "human trafficking". Three of the foreigners who would have been exploited have joined as civil parties and should testify at the hearing, an exception in this type of case.