Fair Trade is bootifulFair Trade month is coming up fast, so this Fair Trade Roundup has lots of info to help folks plug into this exciting time, plus fresh Fair Trade news picks in the “News to Peruse” section. Hope you enjoy!

Roundup Sections:

  1. Featured Fair Trade Update: Prepare for October/Fair Trade Month
  2. Global Exchange Fair Trade Update: Fair Trade Your Halloween
  3. Fair Trade News to Peruse

FairtradeAmerica-fairtrademonth-logo1) October is Fair Trade Month. Think Fair. Be Fair!
Join Fairtrade America and Fair Trade Resource Network (FTRN) in celebrating National Fair Trade Month. The theme for this year’s festivities is: “Be Fair.”

Here are details from FTRN’s Executive Director Jeff Goldman:

We invite you to join us in celebrating National Fair Trade Month this October, as we raise awareness and encourage more people to enjoy Fair Trade products in their daily lives – and in doing so support so many families to have better living standards.
 
We encourage you to participate in any or all of the following ways:
1.    Attend an existing event – follow the growing list of planned events at Events Calendar.
2.    Let us know about your Fair Trade Month plans – and send photos! – so we can help promote your good work via our social media channels and Events Calendar.
3.    Request Fair Trade product samples and educational materials from Fairtrade America
4.    Enter a Prize Drawing for one of five Fairtrade gift baskets — find out how to enter starting October 1st.

Fair-Trade-Action-KIt-Poste

Fair Trade Halloween window poster

2) Global Exchange and Equal Exchange are teaming up to Fair Trade Your Halloween.

Global Exchange will soon be launching 31 fun ideas and activities that will have you drinking Fair Trade coffee, taking a Fair Trade pledge, hosting movie screenings, baking delicious Fair Trade goodies, and giving out Fair Trade chocolates to trick-or-treaters.

Fair-Trade-Action-KIt

Halloween Action Kit

Halloween Action Kit!

You’ll also be able to order a Halloween Action Kit to help spread the Fair Trade word. (Look right for your first glimpse at this action-oriented kit!)

Each kit will include postcards, an Equal Exchange coupon, decorative papel picado, a Halloween window poster, a DVD copy of The Dark Side of Chocolate, and a dozen Equal Exchange mini chocolates.

So get ready to Fair Trade Your Halloween! Bookmark FairTradeHalloween.org so you are in the know when the campaign and kits launch. (There’s a limited supply of action kits available.)

3) Fair Trade News to Peruse

Fair-Trade-NewsTHE FAIR TRADE ROUNDUP AND YOU!

• Subscribe to our Fair Trade blog to receive new Fair Trade blog posts automatically.

• News to share? If you’ve got big Fair Trade news to share, email Tex Dworkin.

• Enjoy this Fair Trade Roundup? Then click the Like and Tweet buttons on the top right of this post to share with others. Thanks!

Fair Trade HalloweenFair Traders like yourselves know that most mainstream chocolate comes from cacao plantations in West Africa, where forced child labor has been documented, and we’re working hard to change that.

For the second year, we’re teaming up with Equal Exchange and YOU to Fair Trade Your Halloween this October.

Coming soon, we’ll be launching 31 fun ideas and activities (and a contest!) that will have you drinking Fair Trade coffee, taking a Fair Trade pledge, hosting movie screenings, baking delicious Fair Trade goodies, and giving out Fair Trade chocolates to trick-or-treaters.

Not only that, you’ll soon be able to order a Halloween action kit to help spread the Fair Trade word.

The action kit will include postcards to hand out to friends, discount coupons for Equal Exchange mini chocolates to hand out, decorative papel picado, a Halloween candy bag, a window poster to display your commitment to Fair Trade, a DVD copy of acclaimed documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate, and some Equal Exchange minis to enjoy and show the big chocolate companies that you won’t tolerate forced child labor in your chocolate.

Take-ActionTAKE ACTION!

Try these amazing Equal Exchange chocolate bars--woops, looks like someone already has!

My favorite Equal Exchange chocolate bar so far… soon to be devoured!

Valentine’s Day is coming up soon, so I’ve been thinking a lot about 1) the people I love, and 2) how much I love chocolate. I confess, I probably won’t be changing my chocolate buying practices around Valentine’s Day—but only because I already eat Fair Trade chocolate two or three times a week!

My new favorite is the Organic Mint Chocolate with a Delicate Crunch from Equal Exchange—this chocolate bar is so good, and reminds me of those Andes chocolate mints I used to get at restaurants as a kid. (Let me know in the comments if there’s another Fair Trade chocolate bar I just have to try!)

Some people stress about finding the perfect Valentine’s Day gift, but not to worry, the Global Exchange Fair Trade stores have a great selection from handmade soapstone hearts and jewelry to Fair Trade chocolate, of course.

You may already have an answer for why buying Fair Trade chocolate is better for your loved ones, but let me share mine. I like to ask myself the question, what and who do I love? When I think about how much I love chocolate, I can proudly say I love the people who help make chocolate for me to consume a reality.

Daniel Santo, of the COCABO co-operative in Panama. Photo courtesy of La Siembra & Dary Goodrich of Equal Exchange.

Daniel Santo, of the COCABO co-operative in Panama. Photo courtesy of La Siembra & Dary Goodrich of Equal Exchange.

I love supporting farmers who work hard to produce high quality cocoa, and I recognize that families and communities still struggle to provide a livelihood for themselves and their children through agricultural commodities. Their attention and commitment to their work and the cocoa they produce contributes to my love of chocolate. I want cocoa producers to enjoy fair working conditions, and I don’t want my purchasing decisions to support slave labor. There’s definitely no love in that.

Fair Trade certification means that small farmers, like those in the cooperatives that work with Equal Exchange, get to make decisions on their own terms and aren’t bossed around by huge corporations into accepting unfair prices. Buying Fair Trade chocolate is about putting your money where your mouth is—if you don’t believe in forced labor and child slavery, you don’t have to support it. That’s the power of ethical economic alternatives like Fair Trade.

Come to the Global Exchange Fair Trade Stores and Make Valentines!

hearts

Want to see more beautiful products and get updates? Follow us on Facebook!

This Valentine’s Day we’re excited to celebrate our love of Fair Trade with a special event at our Global Exchange Fair Trade stores: Make Your Own Fair Trade Valentine!

The when and where: Join us Saturday, February 9th in San Francisco, Berkeley, Arlington, or D.C. from 1-4 pm to make your own special Fair Trade Valentine. We’ll have lots of supplies, including markers and maybe even some glitter, plus color-your-own Fair Trade action postcards (see below for details). You just bring the love. And who knows, you might even find that special gift you’ve been searching for!

While you’re there, pick up some Fair Trade chocolate. I’ve heard eating chocolate can lower your stress level–or was it the negative effects of dementors?

Either way, share the love this Valentine’s Day by coming to see us at a Global Exchange Fair Trade store near you on Saturday, or visiting your own local Fair Trade store.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

WorldFinest-Fair-Trade-postTAKE ACTION! Did you read Zarah’s awesome post about our current Fair Trade action? Help us tell World’s Finest Chocolate that finest means Fair Trade by coloring in this great postcard at our Make Your Own Fair Trade Valentine event!

Kids everywhere love Divine Chocolate!

At Global Exchange we love to celebrate Fair Trade all the time, but this Easter, things will get even sweeter with free chocolate!

Come by anytime Saturday April 7 through Sunday April 8 and you’ll get a free piece of Fair Trade chocolate with any purchase of $20 or more at our Global Exchange Fair Trade stores. From handmade baskets to colorful spring gifts, Global Exchange is excited to help make your Spring have a positive global impact.

For some, Easter means nibbling cute chocolate bunny rabbits, but for many others, especially in West African cocoa-exporting countries, chocolate is a terrible reminder of the harsh reality of child slave labor.

Global Exchange remains committed to supporting Fair Trade cocoa producers around the globe and generating a better world for all of us, kids and adults alike. You too can show your support this Easter by purchasing chocolate from two amazing Fair Trade chocolate vendors: Divine Chocolate and Equal Exchange.

What makes Divine Chocolate so divine and Equal Exchange equally as inspiring? The cooperatives that produce the cocoa, of course!

How Fair Trade has impacted the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative in Ghana and CONACADO in the Dominican Republic:

Fatima Ali, proud member of Kuapa Kokoo. Photo courtesy of Kuaka Kokoo.

Just listen to the shouts of “papa paa!” from the farmers of Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana, a cocoa cooperative started in 1993 which now owns 45% of the Divine Chocolate company itself. “Papa paa” means “best of the best” in the Twi language of Ghana, and is a motto which extends beyond the high quality of the cocoa grown by the farmers and into the cooperative’s commitment to Fair Trade and the betterment of members’ lives.

The social premium that members receive through the cooperative’s  Fair Trade certification translates into real benefits for the community at large, such as clean water wells. Kuapa Kokoo also has a strong focus on gender empowerment, which means that women like Fatima Ali, a local Kuapa Kokoo Society recorder and proud owner of a 5-acre farm, can aspire to leadership positions they previously thought impossible.

CONACADO producer & the bright orange cacao pods that become chocolate bars. Photo courtesy of Equal Exchange.

For over 25 years the worker owned co-op Equal Exchange has been advocating “Small Farmers, Big Change”– and it’s working. In the Dominican Republic, Equal Exchange’s farmer partner cooperative CONACADO has been able to sell over 40% of their cacao on the Fair Trade market.  By participating in Fair Trade, CONACADO has been able to provide school supplies and scholarships for members’ children as well as launch the “Cacao Route,” an eco-tourism project that also generates local income.

One woman who came by the San Francisco store said the other day, “It’s so great that kids these days can eat really good chocolate!” It sure is! And not only that, when you buy Fair Trade chocolate it means that cocoa-producing farmers benefit.

TAKE ACTION!

  • Check out this awesome recipe for Chocolate Satsumas, perfect for enjoying the marvelous citrus fruits that are in season at your local farmers’ markets. Or make a delicious Earl Grey Chocolate Tea Cake for your Easter Sunday brunch–(our stores sell Fair Trade tea too!) Have a great Fair Trade chocolate recipe? Share it in the comments!
  • Don’t forget to get your free Fair Trade chocolate. Come by the San Francisco, Berkeley,  Arlington, VA or D.C. stores  on Saturday April 7 & Sunday April 8.


Yesterday we shared news about an eighth grader named Jasper Perry-Anderson who delivered an online petition to Hershey with 16,000+ signatures on it encouraging the company to increase its commitment to preventing abusive child labor on cocoa farms. Along with the petition, Jasper and fellow activists also delivered more than 500 Valentines made by kids for the members of the Hershey Trust.

Students at Immaculate Heart of Mary Elementary School School, taken just after their visit with Mr. Cavanaugh

Hershey got another Valentine’s Day surprise, this one from the west coast the day before. On February 13th, Fifty-six students at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Elementary School School in Los Angeles, accompanied by their Principal and two teachers, delivered Valentine postcards in person to Hershey Corp. board member (and Milton Hershey School trustee) Robert F. Cavanaugh at his office in Long Beach.

Why Hershey? Hershey is not Fair Trade Certified. It’s time for Hershey to be a leader in responsible chocolate and shift toward Fair Trade cocoa!

During the Valentines delivery, students from Immaculate Heart of Mary Elementary School sensed Mr. Cavanaugh was not pleased to see them, but they persevered, and two students read to him letters they had written regarding Hershey and child labor.  The students gave Mr. Cavanaugh the 56 Valentine “Have a Heart” postcards they had written, and Cavanaugh promised them he would take them to the Hershey corporate offices in Pennsylvania when he went there the following week.

The Principal, Connie McGhee, reports that the students were very fired up by the event and now want to write “someone in Washington” about the issue. Following up on this enthusiasm, Ms. McGhee plans to initiate a fair trade curriculum for the students this spring.

Hopefully they’ll look to our Fair Trade curriculum for their teaching needs!

One of the Valentines delivered to Hershey this year by Fair Trade activists

Northern CA students participated as well. Elementary school students in San Francisco, including John Muir Elementary School, also participated in Hershey campaign Valentine’s activities, including decorating and writing Valentine letters asking Hershey to “Have a Heart.”

All across the country, chocolate lovers are asking Hershey to have a heart when it comes to sourcing cocoa. These Hershey actions are the result of a coordinated effort by members and supporters of Raise the Bar, Hershey!, a coalition of organizations fighting ongoing labor abuses such as child labor, forced labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry. The campaign has involved over one hundred thousand consumers thus far.

Jasper Perry-Anderson with her Hershey petition

Get Involved:

 

 

Elizabeth O'Connell (left), Jasper (right) with fellow youth activist

The following is a guest blog post by Elizabeth O’Connell of the Raise the Bar, Hershey Coalition:

“Valentine’s Day in Hershey”

Very early, and not quite yet bright, we jumped in the car and headed north…for Hershey, PA.  At 9:00am we met Jasper Perry-Anderson, a Philadelphia eighth grader who created an online petition encouraging the company to increase its commitment to ethically sourced cocoa to prevent abusive child labor on the cocoa farms from where it sources.

Jasper holding petitions for Hershey

In just two weeks, Jasper’s petition on Change.org gained more than 16,000 signatures from individuals around the world.  In addition to the petitions  we delivered more than 500 Valentines made by kids for the members of the Hershey Trust.  These Valentines were made by students from across the country, though largely from New York State thanks to NYSUT  and the New York Labor Religion Coalition.  The Valentines contained statements like “This Valentine’s Day, I want to give my Valentine chocolate from laborers who have earned fair wages” and “We have feelings and so do Africa’s kids. They suffer.”

Cathy O’Brien accepting petitions and valentines from Jasper on behalf of Hershey Trust

Cathy O’Brien, an employee of the Trust, accepted the petitions and valentines on behalf of the the Trust.

Simultaneously, on the other side of the country, 56 seventh and eighth graders delivered Valentines to the Chairman of the Trust, Robert Cavanaugh, at his real estate office in Los Angeles, CA.  Mr. Cavanaugh accepted the petitions.

For two years we (Raise the Bar, Hershey Coalition) have called on The Hershey Company’s executives and board to take meaningful action to prevent child labor throughout their supply chain. With little progress, we have taken it up a notch.  The Hershey Trust is in charge of the Hershey school, controls approximately eighty percent of the voting shares of The Hershey Company, and holds several seats on the company’s board of directors.

—

More on this:

In Jasper’s own words: “Mr. Hershey established the Milton Hershey School and School Trust to provide full-time education and care for disadvantaged children. As the majority stockholder of Hershey’s Chocolate Company, the Hershey Trust also needs to do more to take care of the children in West African it’s exploiting for profit.”

The actions today were coordinated by Raise the Bar, Hershey!, a coalition of organizations fighting ongoing labor abuses such as child labor, forced labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry. The campaign has involved over one hundred thousand consumers who voiced their concerns to Hershey about the company’s child labor practices.

Raise the Bar, Hershey! is led by the following organizations: Global Exchange, Green America, International Labor Rights Forum and Labor Religion Coalition of New York State.

Take Action!

  • Sign the petition: It’s not too late to sign Jasper’s Petition. Have a happy and just Valentines Day!
  • Check out the Valentines: Visit our Facebook page to see some of the Valentines that were dropped off to Hershey today, and a few photos as well

 

 

Colored-in Valentine for Hershey

Valentine’s Day is a major chocolate buying holiday, but gifts for your sweetheart should not come at the expense of worker rights. Forced labor, child labor and trafficking continue in the cocoa industry in West Africa.

 

Here’s how YOU can make a difference:

Tell Hershey to Have a Heart

Make Valentines for members of the Hershey trust calling on Hershey to end child labor, forced labor and human trafficking in its cocoa supply.

  • Create your own personalized Valentine telling Hershey to use Fair Trade cocoa for its products, like the iconic chocolate Kiss. Address your valentine to Hershey Trust at 100 Crystal A Drive, Hershey, PA 17033. Please mail your Valentines to Hershey by February 17, 2012.
  • You can also download a Valentine to color and send here.
  • If you make your own Valentine, please scan it and send the image to the Fair Trade Project at fairtrade@globalexchange.org. We’ll post some of our favorites online.

Why Hershey? Almost all major chocolate companies have begun to commit to using independent, third-party programs to certify that their cocoa suppliers comply with international labor standards, but Hershey continues to lag behind the industry.

Collect signatures on the Raise the Bar Hershey petition calling on Hershey to eliminate the child labor, forced labor and trafficking in their cocoa supply. Download a petition here.

 

Make your Valentine chocolate Fair Trade!

Fair Trade provides a solution to global economic injustice! Fair Trade principles include a fair price for producers, the prohibition of child labor, community development, environmental sustainability and direct relationships between consumers and producers. See Green America’s chocolate scorecard.

Host a Screening of The Dark Side of Chocolate

You can raise awareness by hosting a screening of The Dark Side of Chocolate in your school or community. This important documentary exposes the ongoing use of trafficked child labor in the cocoa industry. Visit our Dark Side of Chocolate page to obtain a copy and toolkit, including discussion guide and background information. Visit Fair Trade Towns USA to download a list of more films about Fair Trade.

Educate students about Fair Trade in the classroom with these Fair Trade curricula resources. These classroom activities are great for audiences of ALL ages.

 

Give a Global Exchange Valentine Gift Membership.

Show your love of social justice by giving those you love a Global Exchange Valentine’s Day gift of membership. (Hurry, these are available only while supplies last, and they’re going quickly!)

—

Happy Valentine’s Day, from all of us here at Global Exchange!

Jessica handwriting Valentine cards going to new Global Exchange members

Update Added 4:30pm 2/7: Apparently this IS a good deal, because I just learned the Valentine Gift Membership Package is close to selling out, so grab yours soon, they are only available while supplies last.

—-

When you’re deciding what to get that special someone for Valentine’s Day, chocolate is a pretty safe bet.

But “Fair Trade” chocolate AND a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world – well that’s even better! Introducing the Global Exchange Valentine Gift Membership Package, which does all of the above. Available now while supplies last.

Global Exchange Valentine Gift Membership Package

Chocolate companies have a nasty tendency to use cocoa grown using child and forced labor.  That’s why it’s important to choose Fair Trade chocolate. Fair Trade certification is designed to achieve the elimination of forced child labor in the production of our chocolate.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, there’s no better time to show your love for those you care about AND for the planet and workers around the world.

Global Exchange Valentine Gift Membership Package, up close and personal (tea pictured not included)

Choose a Global Exchange Valentine Gift Membership Package, a truly thoughtful gift that includes:

  • One-Year Membership to Global Exchange;
  • Jumbo chocolate bar (3.5 oz.) from Divine Chocolate
  • Chocolate minis gift bag from Equal Exchange
  • Six colorful Fair Trade bangles
  • Collectible River Stone ‘Heart for Haiti’
  • Fair Trade Reusable Tote Bag; plus…

The best part? YOU GET ALL THAT FOR JUST $35!!! (Usually a Global Exchange membership alone costs $35)

When your friends and family unwrap their Global Exchange Valentine Gift Membership, they will join a compassionate community of dedicated activists working for peace, justice and human rights.

You choose the recipient(s), and we’ll take care of the rest. We’ll send out the membership card and gift package, plus keep your recipient in the loop about Global Exchange programs and events with our newsletter and e-mail action alerts.

Get Your Gift Membership in 2 Easy Steps: 

Step 1: Click here to get started
Step 2: Enter payment information and place your order by 3pm PST February 10th to guarantee arrival by Feb, 14.* It’s that simple! (*For shipments inside the United States. For international orders, please contact Corey Hill at Corey@globalexchange.org or by calling 415-575-5537.)

Together We Can Bring Real and Lasting Change. Remember, your deadline to order if you want your gift to arrive by Valentine’s Day is 3pm PST this Friday!

 

 

You can’t think of everything, can you?

The holiday season always seems to take over like a train barreling down the tracks faster than you can control. You want to live up to your values, appreciate your friends and family and have fun during this season.  Here are five ways you can accomplish all three:

Equal Exchange Singing a Fair Trade Carol

1) Fair Trade Caroling is a great way to share the message of Fair Trade with your neighbors and community, so put on your Santa hat and have some fun!

To get you in the spirit, here are some clips of carolers making music and sharing the ideals of Fair Trade:

Ready to Start Caroling? Great, here’s all you need to know: First, download lyrics from our web site or make up your own. Next gather your carolers and start singing. Don’t forget to film it and send us the short video clip link of your Fair Trade Caroling adventure so we can share it with the world.

Fair Trade Gift Membership Package

2) Shop Fair Trade.  Yes you probably had thought of that, but did you know there is a way to give a Fair Trade gift that won’t take up much space in your friends tiny apartment but will still make a big difference in the lives of small producers and farmers? It’s true. Simply give a Fair Trade Membership Gift Package. Your gift supports Global Exchange’s Fair Trade program and commitment to growing the Fair Trade movement and includes all sorts of cool perks. Check it out online here!

Of course, if you are looking for unique Fair Trade products, pop by one of our Bay Area or DC stores to find a wide selection of Fair Trade products. Or use the Fair Trade Federation product locator http://www.fairtradefederation.org/ to search for Fair Trade products throughout the US.

3) Petition Hershey— With all those bowls of chocolates at holiday parties wouldn’t  it be nice to be able to nibble without worrying about whether a child’s forced labor was used to produce it?  Over 50,000 signatures have been collected encouraging Hershey’s to “Raise the Bar” by making the switch and they have heard us. We’d like to reach 100,000 by Valentine’s Day. Add your name here.

4) Bake Something Delicious – Instead of Hershey’s kisses or guilty gelt in your stocking, try making your own delicious Fair trade treat – Here is a recipe for Zarah’s own mud pie as featured in our sister organization CodePink’s cookbook Peace Never Tasted So Sweet:

Fair Trade Mud Pie

Pie Crust:
1 1/2 cup vanilla wafer crumbs
1/4 cup Fair Trade cocoa powder
1/3 cup Fair Trade powdered sugar
6 tablespoons melted margarine

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and press it into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 350F for 8 minutes. Cool.

Pie:
1 cup Fair Trade powdered sugar
1 cup (6oz) Fair Trade semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped nuts (Fair Trade almonds)
1 1/2-2 pints Fair Trade coffee ice cream (Ben & Jerrys!) make sure it is slightly softened. [If you want, can make one pint FT chocolate, one pint FT coffee ice cream. !! yum]
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

Heat up the FT sugar, FT chocolate chips, butter, cream & corn syrup in a small heavy duty saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly until butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. (Can look online for good tips on how to melt chocolate and get to a good consistency.)
Once smooth, remove it from heat and stir in the organic vanilla. Cool it down until it is slightly warm.

Drizzle 1/3 cup of chocolate mixture in bottom of crust, sprinkle FT chopped almonds. Layer 1/2-1 pint of FT coffee ice cream, using thin scoops. Freeze for one hour to one hour and a half.
Repeat layering with remaining mixture, nuts and ice cream until ingredients gone or no more room in pie crust.

Freeze for two more hours or until pie is firm then enjoy! You have yourself and Fair Trade mud pie. Yum.

5) Be Generous – It’s been a rough year, many of us don’t have a lot of money to spare, but generosity of spirit enriches. Donate what you can afford to your favorite Fair Trade organization or if you can’t do that, share your time, your attention and your good energy.

What else haven’t we thought of? Share your Fair Trade holiday ideas that we’ve left out.

Time for another Fair Trade Roundup…your healthy dose of Fair Trade news.

Photo Credit: JOHN C. WHITEHEAD, The Patriot-News

USAS ANNOUNCES FACTORY SIT-IN TO PROTEST HERSHEY’S EXPLOITATION OF STUDENT GUEST WORKERS

Last week the Raise the Bar Hershey campaign urged consumers to take action on Hershey’s Facebook page to support the campaign that is calling on Hershey to go Fair Trade. As the Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign explains:

Hershey is America’s favorite chocolate brand, accounting for 42.5% of the US market. Yet, inside almost every Hershey chocolate product is the bitter truth that the cocoa used to produce the chocolate may very well have been produced under harmful conditions, including forced labor, human trafficking, and abusive child labor.

Since at least 2001, the Hershey Company has been aware of the problems that exist at the start of its supply chain, yet it continues to source from this region without ensuring that labor rights abuses do not occur in the production of the cocoa it uses.

That was last week. This week there have been more labor abuse accusations made against Hershey, this one from the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). Earlier today John Fitzgerald from Penn State USAS sent the following announcement:

Today, guestworkers and local workers staged a sit-in at a Hershey chocolate factory in Pennsylvania to protest the disturbing exploitation of student guestworkers and demand living wage jobs for local workers. USAS activists will join Pennsylvania workers with a delegation to the factory soon, but right now we’re asking you to take action to support the guestworkers.

Watch the video National Guestworker Alliance’s video here:

USAS was alerted to human rights abuses of international workers in the United States. This summer, hundreds of students from around the world each paid $3,000-6,000 for what they thought was a cultural exchange program. What they were actually greeted with were chocolate packing jobs at sweatshop conditions, poverty pay, severe pain, no cultural experience, and virtually no chance to make back the money they paid for the program. All this is going on at a Hershey Chocolate factory at Hershey, PA, in Penn State’s backyard. Hershey Chocolate is exploiting international student labor instead of bringing much-needed jobs to Pennsylvanian families.

Take Action: Click here to e-mail Hershey’s CEO John Bilbrey and demand an end to the exploitation of student guestworkers, and/or call his office at 717-534-4200.

Photo Credit: Fair Trade USA

FAIR TRADE USA RELEASES NEW 2011 IMPACT REPORTS FOR COFFEE, COCOA, SUGAR AND TEA

Check out the report pdfs here:

 

WPRI TACKLES “HOW TO SPOT FAIR TRADE PRODUCTS”

WPRI Eyewitness News had an interesting segment about Fair Trade. They did their best to inform consumers about the complexities of Fair Trade product labeling. You can watch it here:

 

LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT