Other corporate campaigns

ActionAid campaigns around the world for national and international laws to make multinational companies legally accountable for their impacts on human rights and the environment.

Internationally we help create space for communities and workers affected by corporate power. Through partners and our offices we work to ensure people are able to defend their basic rights and when necessary take their case to the people at the top.

In South Africa
ActionAid works with the Women on Farms Project to secure the rights of women fruit farm labourers in the Western Cape that supply the UK supermarket Tesco.

In 2006, we hosted Gertruida Baartman, a 39 year old fruit farm labourer and mother of three when she asked a question to company executives and shareholders at Tesco's AGM in London. Gertruida’s action has forced Tesco to take action on the issues the women have raised, such as low pay and poor conditions. Read more about Gertruida and Tesco here.

In India
An estimated 500,000 women process cashew nuts for a living in Tamil Nadu and Kerala in India. These workers earn 5p for shelling a kilo of cashews that retail in UK supermarkets for £9 or more. As well as poverty wages the women suffer poor health due to the caustic oil and acrid smoke released in the shelling process and the poor working conditions.

ActionAid supports the Cashew Workers Development Centre, a community based organisation that provides training programmes for women who want to leave the cashew sector, lobbies the state government to develop and enforce pro-worker laws and advocates for public and private sector investment to establish 'fair wage' cashew processing factories.

photo : ©Tom Pietrasik /ActionAid