A tea garden in Kenya that specializes in supplying well-known brands of tea has reported incidents of sexual assault by its supervisor. (Schematic / Dazhi / Associated Press)
A tea plantation in Kenya that specializes in supplying Lipton, Sainsbury, and PG Tips teas was recently exposed by foreign media, pointing out that a scandal of sexual abuse and assault by a supervisor had occurred internally. More than 70 female workers cried and complained that they had to agree to the boss’s condition of sleeping with them, otherwise they would not be able to work.
According to the “BBC” report, Sainsbury and PG Tips belong to Unilever, and even Lipton was sold to Ekaterra in November 2021. In fact, Unilever faced relevant allegations more than 10 years ago. At that time, Unilever declared that it had “zero tolerance” for sexual harassment, and said it would take relevant measures to prevent it. However, according to the investigation of the undercover reporter of “BBC”, this is not the case .
In order to verify, the female reporter of “BBC” went to the tea plantation with an encryption device to apply. Unexpectedly, the female reporter was arranged for an interview in a hotel. Later, during the interview, the female reporter was forced, hugged, and even asked to take off her clothes. Fortunately, a pre-arranged phone call rang. Get the female reporter out of her clutches. By the time he was actually hired, he was asked to have sex by another manager.
The “BBC” actually interviewed the female workers in the tea plantation. The female workers said that due to the scarcity of local job opportunities, they had no choice but to agree to the boss’s sexual demands, otherwise they would face a situation where they would have no money to make. A female worker also said that she was forced to suspend her work by her supervisor, and was not allowed to resume work until she agreed to have sex with her supervisor. Some female workers even said that they contracted AIDS after having sex with their superiors.
The report pointed out that after the incident, the current three managers of the tea garden have been suspended and arrested by the police, and are currently under investigation.