In conjunction with our meeting, we had the opportunity to deliver the following letter, endorsed by over seventy prominent faith-based, human rights and social justice groups, calling upon their company to embrace fair trade certification as an important strategy for allievating poverty and child labor on cocoa farms and a unique opportunity for their company to better serve their many ethical and social responsible customers among our nations schools, churches and charitable communities.

The meeting was very positive and we are encouraged by their company's responsiveness to our efforts and willingness to engage with concerned groups about these important issues. World's Finest has committed to a continuing dialogue on Fair Trade certification with Global Exchange and other concerned groups and we look forward to meeting with them again soon to discuss the matter in greater detail.

If your group did not have the opportunity to sign on to the letter or would like to thank World's Finest Chocolate for their openness to a dialogue on fair trade and encourage them to follow through, please visit our fax action page.

To find out more about our campaign to reach out to World's Finest Choclate please email Jamie@globalexchange.org or call 415-575-5538 to learn more about how your group can get involved.

World's Finest Chocolate
Edmond Opler, President
Attn: Marketing Department
4801 S. Lawndale
Chicago, IL 60632-3062

June 16, 2005

Dear Mr. Opler,

We, the undersigned organizations, represent a national network of faith-based, community and school organizations with a deep concern for social justice and the wages and living conditions of cocoa farmers and workers. We are writing today to urge you to purchase cocoa that is Fair Trade Certified. We believe that Fair Trade certification is the best way for you to ensure that child slavery and poverty are no longer facts of life on cocoa farms.

As you certainly know, reports of the existence of child slave labor in the cocoa industry have been well documented by the International Labor Organization, the U.S. State Department and others. The reemergence of child slavery can be blamed, in part, by a downturn in raw cocoa prices. As a result, cocoa growers have been forced to cut their labor costs, and tragically many of them have turned to using slave labor. While low cocoa prices mean lower raw materials costs and hence more profit for World's Finest, for cocoa farmers and workers, the results are tragic.

We are aware that World's Finest, along with other members of the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and the World Cocoa Foundation, has agreed to work towards the elimination of child slavery in accordance with its commitments under the Industry Protocol and Joint Statement. However, we are concerned that industry may not deliver sufficiently on its promises by the July 2005 deadline to assure consumers that their products are not made by forced child labor.

Pilot programs established under the ILO, via its WACAP program, affect only a small percent of industry (eight percent in Ghana, four percent in Cote d'Ivoire) and funding for these programs, provided principally by the U.S. government, is set to expire in December 2005. Furthermore, these programs do nothing to correct low world cocoa prices that are a root cause of slave labor practices. Solutions to the current crisis must include ensuring that farmers are paid a fair price for their harvest.

Surely, most of your customers would be outraged to learn that the sweetness of their favorite chocolate is tainted with the bitterness of slavery and worker exploitation, and would like to know that you are doing everything within your power as a chocolate company to ensure that farmers and workers are treated fairly.

Fortunately there is one solution available to the chocolate industry now that would guarantee that its chocolate is produced fairly and without exploitation: Fair Trade. The Fair Trade system corrects market imbalances by guaranteeing a minimum price for small farmer's harvest. Your Protocol states that "effective solutions to address these violations must include action by appropriate parties to improve overall labor standards and access to education." Only when cocoa producers are paid such a fair and stable income will they have the resources to feed their families and keep their children in school.

To find out how you can purchase cocoa that has been produced according to Fair Trade criteria, contact TransFair USA at (510) 663.5260. Currently, 28 cocoa importers and chocolate companies are licensed to sell Fair Trade Certified cocoa and chocolate in the U.S. As was true with Fair Trade coffee, small firms are leading the way. So far, no firm with more than $10 million in sales is involved. Were World's Finest to begin sourcing Fair Trade Certified Chocolate for its fundraising bars, it would immediately rank among the leading suppliers of Fair Trade in the U.S.

Fair Trade is a reality for many farmers right now, but there is still much room for growth. The Fair Trade system involves over 50,000 farmers in cooperatives in 11 countries (Belize, Bolivia, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Haiti, Nicaragua, Ivory Coast and Peru) who can feed their families, pay their workers, and keep their children in school thanks to Fair Trade. These farmers produced 26 million pounds of cocoa in 2003 but sold only 2 million pounds at Fair Trade terms.

We believe that World's Finest, as a leader in the $13 billion chocolate industry and a company that reaches countless children through your fundraising programs, has the responsibility to ensure that its principal product, chocolate, is produced under fair labor conditions. It is clear that you have the resources to do so given that you are one of the eight largest chocolate companies in the U.S.

Thus, we formally call on you to commit to purchasing a starting minimum of at least five percent of your cocoa as Fair Trade Certified, to be independently verified and monitored, according to international standards, by TransFair USA.

Thank you for your consideration. We request that you reply promptly with a specific plan introducing Fair Trade Certified chocolate products outlined above and, more immediately, that you start a dialogue with concerned organizations like ours.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Aid Through Trade
Africa Faith and Justice Network
Archdiocese of San Francisco
Beacon Fellowship
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists' Social Justice Committee
Call to Action
Catholic Charities Office
Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network
Casa Maria Catholic Worker Community
Chicago Jobs with Justice
Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America
Christian Brothers Conference
Church Women United
Citizens for Awareness
Community of Christ
CRISPAZ Christians for Peace in El Salvador
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael
Earth Ministry
Educational Network for Global and Grassroots Exchange (ENGAGE)
Episcopal Church USA
Episcopal Church, Diocese of LA
Episcopal Church Center, Peace & Justice Ministries
Faith in Place
Global Exchange
Grandmothers for Peace
Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center-Cincinnati
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Interfaith Fair Trade Initiative
Institute of Justice, Sisters of Mercy
Institute of Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
Inter-religious Task Force on Central America
Intercommunity Justice & Peace Center
International Labor Rights Fund
Jubilee NW Coalition
Jubilee USA Network
Justice Conference of Women Religous, No. Calif.
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Lutheran World Relief
Lutheran Office for Global Affairs, Corporate Social Responsibility ELCA
Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs
Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns
Marin Friends Meeting
Medical Mission Sisters, Alliance for Justice
Miami University's Students for Peace and Justice
National Catholic Rural Life Conference
Ohio Conference on Fair Trade
Oxfam America
Pax Christi Santa Catalina School
Pax Christi Occidental
Pax Christi Michigan
Pax Christi Stanford
Peacworks, Quest for Peace
Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center
Sacred Heart Franciscan Province JPIC
Sacred Heart OFM Province Peace & Justice
Sacramento Pax Christi
Sacramento School of the Americas Watch
School Sisters of Notre Dame SHALOM North America Coordinating Committee
SHARE Foundation
Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God
Sisters of St. Joseph
Sisters of Notre Dame Justice & Peace Network
Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco
True Christian Youth Outreach
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
United Church of Christ Justice & Witness Ministries
United Church of Christ, Office for Church in Society Vermont Mercy Action
Witness for Peace New England
Witness for Peace Southeast
The Women's Office Sisters of Charity BVM