Fair Trade activists, human rights advocates and student groups appreciate Starbucks' decision to brew Fair Trade coffee during World Fair Trade Week (May 3-9, 2004). But they would be more impressed if the company made a permanent, significant commitment to Fair Trade purchasing. In 2000 Starbucks promised to sell Fair Trade Certified coffee—to head off a campaign by the international human rights group Global Exchange demanding that the company buy at least five percent of its coffee under Fair Trade Certified terms. Yet, in 2004 less than one percent of Starbucks' coffee is Fair Trade Certified.
"We're pleased that Starbucks is doing this and we are waiting for the day when brewed Fair Trade coffee at Starbucks' will be the rule instead of a newsworthy exception," said Valerie Orth, Fair Trade Organizer with Global Exchange. "That would really be something to celebrate. Starbucks has the ability and the responsibility to lead the industry in increasing Fair Trade sales."
"It's encouraging that Starbucks is responding to the student demand for more Fair Trade coffee," says Tony LoPresti of United Students for Fair Trade (USFT) a collective of over 300 student Fair Trade organizations. "But this is about building ethical relationships with producers, and producers suffer the global coffee crisis every day of the year, not just for one week. If Starbucks wants to fulfill its mandate for social responsibility in its buying practices, then it will work towards making this permanent."
Global Exchange has consistently urged Starbucks and other major companies, such as Procter & Gamble (owner of Folgers and Millstone), to buy Fair Trade. Fair Trade guarantees small-scale farmer cooperatives a minimum price, and thus a decent living. Fair Trade certification, unlike Starbucks self-regulatory plan, uses third party monitoring and a consistent standard that includes labor rights and environmental sustainability.
There is more going on during world Fair Trade Week than just the Starbucks announcement. Global Exchange is organizing a National Call in week to M&M/Mars, May 3 - 7, to get the company to buy Fair Trade cocoa beans for their chocolate. On May 8 Global Exchange will host a regional Fair Trade meeting for West Coast Fair Trade activists, while urging shoppers, more than ever, to look for the Fair Trade label and shop Fair Trade from May 3 - 9 and for the rest of the year.
Global Exchange is a membership-based international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, political and environmental justice. USFT is a student-run organization working toward economic justice through the promotion of Fair Trade products, principles, and policies.
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