They are suspected of having housed grape pickers in unworthy conditions: a service company, its manager and two men who participated in recruitment will be tried in Châlons-en-Champagne in 2025 for human trafficking, announced Friday the floor.
On September 15, 2023, on the sidelines of the grape harvest in Champagne, the labor inspectorate inspected a grape picker accommodation site used by a wine service company in Nesle-le-Repons (Marne) and discovered “unworthy conditions” there. (mattress on the floor, makeshift showers with very little hot water, faulty electrical installation)”, recalls Châlons-en-Champagne prosecutor Annick Browne in a press release.
“Around fifty foreign workers, most of them in an irregular situation” were housed on site. The prefect of Marne had issued an order of insalubrity.
On March 26, 2025, the service provider company and its manager will have to answer before the court for “trafficking in human beings, unworthy accommodation conditions, hidden work, employment of employees without work permits and non-existent or insufficient remuneration”, list Mrs. Browne.
Two men accused of participating in the recruitment of grape harvesters will be tried for human trafficking.
A wine company will also be brought before the criminal court for “use by a legal entity of the services of a person carrying out hidden work with regard to several people”, adds the prosecutor.
Between 100,000 and 120,000 people settle down each year for around ten days on the 34,300 hectares of the Champagne vineyard to pick the grapes by hand.
According to the Champagne Committee, which represents 16,200 winegrowers, 130 cooperatives and 370 champagne houses, a thousand service companies now recruit half of the grape harvesters.
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