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Before the Nike 'swoosh' and McDonald's golden arches, there were already global brands. Brands with style, substance and a little dust. Brands like Grand Marnier.

Almost everyone recognises the distinctive brown bottle and grimy wax seal, even if they can't quite remember what Marnier calls 'its light amber tones' and 'excellent lingering after-taste' after raiding, in desperation, the back of the drinks cabinet.

The after-taste for workers toiling on Grand Marnier's orange plantations in Haiti each day is definitely bittersweet. Workers who handpick the fruit have for years earned poverty wages and suffered respiratory and skin complaints because of intensive contact with acidic orange spray. They pick, peel and grate bitter oranges for shipment to the company's distilleries in France.

Until relatively recently, the workers, many the descendants of slaves, earned less than the £2 per day laid down as a minimum by Haitian labour laws.

Conditions on the plantations were horrendous. There were no toilets or first-aid facilities, contravening Haitian labour laws. There was no clean drinking water, and an absence of washing facilities meant workers had no way of removing the citric acid from their skin.

But last July significant concessions were won from Marnier. The company agreed to a 55% increase in wages, an improvement in conditions and official recognition of the workers' union. Following months of wrangling and unfulfilled promises, a combination of local and international pressure brought the management to the negotiating table.

As an example of how charities and campaigns can challenge unethical business practices and achieve positive change, the Grand Marnier case is instructive.

Various groups, including War on Want and the Haiti Support Group, launched an international campaign to get the company to negotiate properly. Many people wrote to the company, and it received some punishing publicity. Marnier was, by all accounts, taken aback by the pressure. Trade unions on the plantation also pushed harder. The combination was irresistible.

The lessons for the company, workers and campaigners are significant. In short, pressure works, and there is no substitute for proper negotiation. Without the combination of local trade union persuasion and international campaigning, little would have changed. A constructive dialogue between the workers and company representatives came from this amalgam of influences. Now that conditions have improved, all agree they are in a better position, though some issues remain unresolved.

The national and international context is also important. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Unemployment is severe. This means trade unions are relatively weak and wages startlingly low. Companies sometimes think they can get away with poor practices in poor countries, but these days there is nowhere to hide. Trade unions and campaigners are casting the net far wider than they used to and companies are finding that good industrial relations are a better bet than old-style confrontation.

Labour rights are also becoming central to many international and human-rights agreements. Companies that refuse to negotiate are swimming against the tide. If there is going to be globalisation, most agree, it has to be a humane process, with responsible business as a cornerstone.