A Danish documentary is shining a light on rampant labor abuses in the South African winery industry. Workers are denied minimum wage and live in abysmal housing, while employers suppress unions that try to make changes.

Among the worst offenders is Robertson Winery, where 220 workers have been on strike since August demanding minimum wage. Robertson responded with an insulting counter-offer: half that amount.

Some Danish supermarkets have responded by taking Robertson wines off the shelves. But in order to protect vineyard workers’ rights, we need to demand changes from Robertson itself.

Stand behind the striking workers and their call for a minimum wage and an investigation into worker abuses.

The film Bitter Grapes: Slavery in the Vineyards also shows the appalling living conditions for workers, which often lack electricity and running water. “I saw people have to live off water from a drain ditch alongside a road,” said filmmaker Tom Heinemann.

One worker interviewed in the film evened likened conditions in the wine industry to South Africa’s segregationist past, saying: “If you go into your rural areas, apartheid is still very much alive.”

Robertson sells its wine products across the world -- which means as global consumers we have the power to push Robertson to address the unacceptable conditions its workers face. Now that Bitter Grapes has shown Robertson Winery’s terrible labor practices, we need to come together and stand with hundreds of striking workers demanding full rights.