Grand Marnier workers toil for £2 a day on Haiti plantation

Grand Marnier, the liqueur with the distinctive tang of oranges, claims bigger export sales than any other French digestif. But as the company's French executives headed off for the Bastille holiday weekend they were fending off allegations that conditions on their orange plantation in Haiti were little better than those on the French-owned sugar plantations worked by Haitian slave labourers in the 18th century.

Grand Marnier, the liqueur with the distinctive tang of oranges, claims bigger export sales than any other French digestif. But as the company's French executives headed off for the Bastille holiday weekend they were fending off allegations that conditions on their orange plantation in Haiti were little better than those on the French-owned sugar plantations worked by Haitian slave labourers in the 18th century.

On the 72-hectare plantation in the hills around Cap-Haïtien in the north of the poorest country in the western hemisphere, hundreds of men and women are employed to pick and peel the famous Grand Marnier oranges in conditions which, it is claimed, violate even Haiti's flimsy labour code.

Yannick Etienne of Batay Ouvriye, the workers' rights group representing plantation staff, says she has seen the raw and bleeding hands of the women in the orange-cutting and grating room and the desperation of the men who spend hours each day perched on ladders reaching into the rough thorny branches with bare hands for 20 US cents a crate.

To earn anything approaching a living they have to work flat out at least 12 hours day. "It is worst in the rain," Ms Etienne said in London last week.

When the tropical downpours come sweeping in from the Atlantic to Cap-Haïtien flash floods turn the soil in the orange groves to silt.

But even in the mud the pickers have to work at a furious pace because of the piece-work regime. The workers do not wear gloves, masks or other protective clothing. The plantation lacks even the most basic toilet or washing facilities.

Yet the pickers are better off than the women on "zestage" lines in filthy sheds. Using their own kitchen knives - none are supplied - they quarter the oranges and remove the flesh. The peels are then left to dry in the sun before being shipped to Grand Marnier's château in Bourg-Chartentes.

Here the peels are macerated in cognac before blending. After ageing in oak barrels the Grand Marnier is bottled near Versailles and the famous red ribbon tied on by hand.

According to the label on the Grand Marnier bottle the exotic orange essence comes from the "French West Indies". But Haiti had been independent for nearly 80 years when in 1880 Louis Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle first identified the green and bitter-tasting citrus that would give his family's cognac its magic new ingredient. He bought land and began shipping the orange peel back to the distillery near Versailles.

But the workers at CapHaïtien have little chance to admire the distinctive dark glass bottles, red ribbons or cocktail recipes on the firm's website.

Working at the speed needed to make a living, cuts are a bigger worry. "The women are always losing fingers," Ms Etienne said. But there is no first aid, no sick leave or paid holiday. The women earn a little over 50 US cents for cutting a crate of oranges. There are 152 oranges in a crate. Even the fastest cutter and grater cannot cut up more than six crates a day - that's more than 900 oranges to make $3 (£2) a day. And the constant exposure to citric acid causes coughing and long-term respiratory problems.

Labour agitation began at the plantation a year ago. Only after a lengthy battle would the company's local managers agree to talk to the union. It took six months to negotiate a deal on building toilets (which have yet to materialise). But pay talks have broken down and with union leaders facing, they allege, victimisation, the labourers have decided to take their campaign direct to Grand Marnier customers in Europe.

"We are not seeking a boycott of Grand Marnier," said Ms Etienne. "We are not even threatening a boycott of Marnier products. But we hope this company which recorded a net income of around £10m in 1998 will feel the negative publicity is more costly than a meagre pay increase for the Haitian workers."

A statement yesterday from Grand Marnier's headquarters in Paris said it "strongly refuted" the allegations. But it went on to admit that "issues" arising at the plantation had been brought to the attention of the company. These were being "discussed in a constructive fashion with representatives of the worker unions". It added: "Through mutual respect and understanding ongoing steps are taken in order to ensure a constant improvement in wages and working conditions."