Debilitating workdays: workers subjected to workdays that go far beyond normal overtime and threaten their physical integrity. There is plenty of coffee from farmers who have already gone through the work of getting certified. To call on Starbucks to support small-scale farmers is to demand that they do their part to shift this system rooted in exploitation. We can no longer turn a blind eye to what is happening. Even after slavery was abolished in the late 1880s, the same imbalance of power remains with a few landowners controlling huge amounts of land and many, many more people left landless and exploited for their labor. The low prices paid to coffee farmers by Starbucks forces children to work on their family farms, with an alarming two million children in the Sidamo area alone working an average of 29.9 hours per week6.Whilst people may not hesitate to spend $3 on a latte, many are unaware that this simple expense is the equivalent to the daily wage of a Starbucks Central American coffee picker7. The call for change is particularly urgent in 2019. Yet as this so-called market niche has grown, so too have the many who would cash in on consumer’s goodwill. Overall, the Brazilian labor ministry reports that workers toiling in slavery-like working conditions was at a 15-year high in 2018. If a company makes barely any progress on an ethical commitment for over a decade and then rewrites the standards and checks off the goal—that seems suspect, right? Phone: (800) 631-9980 Meanwhile, fair trade farmers have the potential to fare better. Low Coffee Prices – A Dire Call to Action, Fair Trade Fashion: A look behind the labels, https://fairworldproject.org/how-do-we-end-child-labor-start-by-addressing-corporate-capitalism/, https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_problem_with_fair_trade_coffee, The Supreme Court Must Hold Nestle and Cargill Accountable, How Do We End Child Labor? cups of coffee per day, or about 136 gallons per year. That is the question in […], Rainforest Alliance certification is not fair trade. Rigged auctions or commodity exchange pricing are both artificial price indicators. This summer’s headlines could easily have been stories from 15 years ago when I first entered the worlds of coffee and fair trade: Coffee prices have been falling lower and lower, below $1/pound on the global commodity markets. As of now, I haven’t seen updates on this case except that Starbucks said they aren’t buying anymore. Pioneer Valley Worker Center (PVWC) exists to “build power with low-wage and immigrant workers.” Today, they’re connecting workers to the resources they need to build economic justice in their communities. You can see where this is going: bags of coffee from these two companies end up side by side on the shelf. Put another way, 72% of coffee from fair trade cooperatives gets sold outside the fair trade market. This is not good journalism. I’d say, as a general rule, there is a lot we need to do about slavery but I DO think that murky supply chain is a big part of the problem and if C.A.F.E. I Try to leave a decent tip because I feel sure these people right here in the starbucks drive thrus are not making anything close to a living wage, so sorry to hear about the plantation slavery but, it doesn’t surprise me. To call on Starbucks to support small-scale farmers is to demand that they do their part to shift this system rooted in exploitation. **The math here: In the U.S., average coffee consumption is three 8oz. Coffee importer Cooperative Coffees has ditched the notoriously volatile commodity market as the basis for any of their buying contracts. Either way can she provide any kind of link or reference to where we can follow her lead or are we just supposed to believe her unsubstantiated claims. With minimum prices and premium funds that are democratically controlled by farmers and their cooperatives, fair trade offers a model … And Starbucks’ C.A.F.E. In days where “the ceo” or whatever title Mr. S (Of S.+bucks corp) gives himself, nevermind thinks of their self as being legitimate about democracy and other floundered / shattered ideals we in the USA have been touting to be about, nevermind the facade of fair trade (nevermind toxic synthetic chemicals ridden product/peoples), nevermind the likely (i try no longer to follow W-streets’ news so much) high double digits shareholder payouts (‘dividends’ / tax write offs, etc) or if one of the low low effective corporate tax rates some of the giants o industrialized food stuffs is like many and effectively near zero, especially when factoring in the too usual toxic effects & costs of overly processed / synthetic chemical laden ingredients that are frequently priced by demand by populace of customers increasingly diabetic prone to be asleep / being put-to-sleep by and while standing in lines for largely local-killing, unsustainable, too often near slave labor, overly high processed often far flung side ingredients. 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