- On 6 November, Oxfam announced that plantation workers in Costa Rica received payments from suppliers after negotiations with ALDI. The payments followed complaints received through internal complaints procedures at multiple German companies, including Aldi, for violations of the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act.
- After the complaint, Aldi launched its own investigation with union involvement, which confirmed some of the allegations. Negotiations with suppliers, unions, and Oxfam led to a settlement and payments to affected workers in August 2025.
- According to Oxfam’s press release, some of the allegations have not yet been fully resolved and negotiations are ongoing.
The BAFA complaint
- Oxfam, Costa Rican trade union SITRAP, and Ecuadorian trade union ASTAC first raised complaints through the internal complaints procedures of Aldi, Lidl, Edeka and Rewe in 2023, citing labour law violations on banana plantations in Costa Rica and Ecuador.
- The specific allegations included workers being paid well below the legal minimum of about €20 per day, pesticides being sprayed from the air during working hours without warning or protective measures, and discrimination against union members as well as obstruction of union activities.
- According to the press release, the complainants followed up with complaints to BAFA against Rewe and Edeka, as they did not take steps or engage in negotiations to address the concerns raised in the initial complaints. There are currently no updates on these BAFA complaints.
- The press release is available only in German and our alert is based on an unofficial translation.