Champagne's dirty secret: pickers underpaid, underfed and sleeping on the streets

A Guardian investigation has found that workers in France's champagne industry are being underpaid and forced to sleep on the streets and steal food to stave off hunger.

- Tom Levitt , Maia Courtois & Simon Mauvieux

Workers from west Africa and eastern Europe in the town of Epernay, home to the headquarters of some of the world's most expensive champagne brands, including Moët & Chandon and Mercier, claim they are either not being paid for their work or illegally underpaid.

The Guardian found workers in the town sleeping on the streets or in tents as the vineyards did not provide accommodation. Other workers said they had been forced to steal food from local people as they did not have anywhere to buy provisions.

Last year, 300m bottles of champagne from the vineyards of northern France were shipped around the world, generating €6bn (£5bn) in revenues.

Yet the champagne industry has been hit by controversies related to its treatment of grape-pickers, with four workers dying from suspected sunstroke during last year's harvest. In a case scheduled to go to court early next year, four people, including a vineyard owner, have been charged with human trafficking.

In Epernay, the grand offices of the world's most luxurious champagne brands sit side by side on the town's Champagne Avenue, where tens of millions of bottles of champagne reported to be stored underground have led the avenue to be named the "richest street in the world".

A few minutes' walk away, dozens of workers responsible for harvesting champagne grapes were getting ready to sleep in the doorway of the cinema opposite a train station.

Another group of people from French-speaking Africa were collecting belongings hidden in bushes after returning from a day's grape-picking. One of them, Youniss, said he had been working on vineyards for three days but was vague about where he would be sleeping, saying "outside".

Youniss had been drawn to the region by the promise of a well-paid job picking some of the most expensive grapes in the world during August and September. Even the cheapest bottle of champagne is rarely sold for less than €20.