Latest news with #C.A.F.E
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Group Appeals to Farm Rio to End Partnership With Starbucks
A group of 17 labor unions, human rights organizations and watchdog nonprofits including Coffee Watch are calling on the lifestyle brand Farm Rio to end its partnership with Starbucks or change its policies. The coffee chain has come under fire this spring for allegations of child labor, trafficking workers and unsafe working conditions on a Brazilian coffee farm. A civil 'John Doe' lawsuit was filed against Starbucks in late April in the U.S. by eight individuals with the support of the International Rights Advocates. More from WWD From The Archive: Rio de Janeiro Fashion Scene, 1974 Todd Snyder Opens Nashville Store in 12South Neighborhood Dior Beauty Opens New Boutique in Miami A Starbucks spokesperson said Wednesday that the claims asserted are 'without merit' and the company plans to 'vigorously defend the Starbucks brand.' Coffee Watch filed a petition under section 307 of the Tariff Act asking U.S. Customs and Border Protection 'to block slavery-tainted Brazilian coffee in Starbucks' supply chains from entering the United States,' according to the letter, which was shared with WWD. In a statement, the Seattle-based company said, 'Starbucks is committed to ethical sourcing of coffee including helping to protect the rights of people who work on the farms where we purchase coffee from,' adding that its Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices include the use of 'robust third-party verification and audits.' Starbucks said it does not purchase coffee from all of the farms within Cooxupé's cooperative, which includes more than 19,000 coffee farm members. The spokesperson said, 'Starbucks purchases coffee from a small fraction of those farms, and only those who have been verified through our C.A.F.E. Practices, which are among the most stringent in the industry and have been continuously improved since their inception in 2004.' Starbucks and Farm Rio revealed their partnership last month for a limited-edition collection of colorful drinkware and mini cold-cup keychains that launched in the coffee chain's stores in the U.S. and Canada. They are also being sold in its outposts in Brazil and in select markets in Latin America and in the Caribbean. On Wednesday, a public relations firm working on behalf of the organizations that have appealed to Farm Rio's chief executive officer put the word out about their letter. Supporters of the letter are asking that Starbucks sever the partnership immediately or make it contingent on such demands as allowing employees worldwide to unionize and eradicating child labor from every part of its supply chain, ensuring farmworkers receive a living wage and publicly committing to upholding labor rights across its supply chain. The representative for the senders of the letter also provided a link to a video post that was made by the organization Contracs on 'X' that shows three protesters holding signs outside of a Farm Rio store in an unidentified shopping center in Brazil. Representatives at Farm Rio could not be reached for comment Wednesday. An outside public relations company that works with Farm Rio acknowledged a request for comment about the request to end the Starbucks partnership and said it had been shared with Farm Rio, but there was not a response at press time. Separately, Starbucks has been dealing with pushback from some employees in the U.S. about its new uniform policy. More than 1,000 workers — many of whom are associated with Starbucks Workers United — in 75 locations held a one-day strike in opposition to the mandatory dress code. Workers United is less than 5 percent of Starbucks' workforce, representing about 570 of its 10,000-plus stores, according to another Starbucks spokesperson. The letter to Farm Rio also noted that a fair contract with unionized workers in the U.S. has not been reached. Best of WWD Young Brooke Shields' Style Evolution, Archive Photos: From Runway Modeling & Red Carpets to Meeting Princess Diana The Most Memorable French Open Tennis Outfits With Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka & More [PHOTOS] Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter Tour' Outfits, Live Updates: Schiaparelli, Burberry, Loewe and More
New York Times
25-04-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Forced Labor Taints Brazilian Coffee, Say Complaints to U.S. Authorities
Tariffs are not the only threat to business for big companies selling coffee in the United States. On Thursday, a watchdog group petitioned the Trump administration to block coffee imports that it says are produced with forced labor akin to modern-day slavery in Brazil, the world's largest coffee grower. The petition to Customs and Border Protection, filed by the nonprofit Coffee Watch, names Starbucks, by far the largest coffee retailer in the country, as well as Nestle, Dunkin', Illy, McDonald's and Jacobs Douwe Egberts, the owner of Peet's, as companies that rely on potentially dubious sources. It asks the Trump administration not to allow distribution of any imports from Brazil that 'wholly or in part' rely on human trafficking and forced labor. 'This isn't about a few bad actors,' Etelle Higonnet, the founder and director of Coffee Watch, said in a statement. 'We're exposing an entrenched system that traps millions in extreme poverty and thousands in outright slavery.' The request for U.S. action was filed a day after another group, International Rights Advocates, sued Starbucks in federal court on behalf of eight Brazilians who were trafficked and forced to toil in 'slavery-like conditions,' said Terry Collingsworth, a human rights lawyer and the founder of the group. The suit seeks certification as a class action representing thousands of workers who it says have faced the same plight while harvesting coffee for a major Starbucks supplier and regional growers' cooperative in Brazil called Cooxupé. 'Starbucks needs to be accountable,' Mr. Collingsworth said in an interview, adding that 'there is a massive trafficking and forced labor system in Brazil' that the company benefits from. Amber Stafford, a spokeswoman for Starbucks, denied the allegations and said the company was committed to ethical sourcing, including helping to protect the rights of people who work on the farms its coffee comes from. 'The cornerstone of our work is our Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices verification program, which was developed with outside experts and includes robust third-party verification and audits,' she said in an email. Mr. Collingsworth contends that despite the verification program, the company has not made its practices transparent. The lawsuit, he said, will help his group get more information about the company's supply chains. Several of the companies named in the petition to block imports take part, along with the Rainforest Alliance, in the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, whose stated aims include improving the lot of agricultural workers. Apart from Starbucks, the companies either did not respond to requests for comment or declined to do so. The advocacy groups issued a joint statement on Thursday, saying their efforts expose 'the hidden human cost behind one of the nation's most beloved commodities: coffee.' The groups' goal is to disrupt a segment of the Brazilian coffee industry that they say supplies companies abroad in part by trafficking vulnerable workers. The coffee sector in Brazil was founded on slavery and continued to depend upon it, they say, even though Brazil abolished slavery in 1888. The groups say that illegal labor brokers — known as 'gatos' or 'cats' — seek out workers from poor, rural communities, some of whose inhabitants descend from enslaved people, making false representations about jobs and advancing funds for food and travel. The laborers end up in 'debt bondage,' working off what they owe by harvesting coffee under conditions not so different from those of their enslaved forebears. Other human rights groups, as well as news organizations and the U.S. government have reported similar findings. In April, four coffee producers that are part of the Cooxupé collective were added to a slave labor blacklist by the Brazilian authorities after inspectors found dozens of workers, including a teenager, who were being subjected to conditions akin to slavery, according to Repórter Brasil, a Brazilian nonprofit. In some cases, the workers do not have running water, beds or toilets, according to advocacy groups. They work long hours without protective equipment and often do not receive their full wages or any pay. The Brazilian government has repeatedly taken action, but because coffee harvesting is a seasonal activity, it is not subject to as much monitoring as other fields of employment. The eight workers in the Starbucks complaint withheld their names out of fear of retributionat home. 'These traffickers are dangerous guys,' Mr. Collingworth said. Workers who try to leave or report abuses face death threats and are often prevented from leaving the farms, he said. The legal actions were based on records from the Brazilian authorities, nonprofits and journalists 'showing a persistent pattern of labor abuses throughout Brazil's coffee sector,' the advocacy groups said. The system, rights advocates contend, is bolstered by corporations abroad who rely on Brazilian suppliers — and by unwitting American consumers. 'No coffee produced by slaves should enter American homes,' said Ms. Higonnet of Coffee Watch.
