chiquita_hondurasJoin Global Exchange and our partners at the International Labor Rights Forum as we call on Chiquita banana supplier, Tres Hermanas, to bargain with SITRAINBA, the legally-recognized union on its three banana plantations in southern Honduras.

Since 2009, workers at Tres Hermanas have raised concerns over a pattern of labor rights violations, including failure to pay the minimum wage, unpaid overtime, and the illegal firing of workers attempting to exercise their right to organize. In order to protect their rights, workers on Tres Hermanas’ plantations formed the union SITRAINBA, which was officially recognized by the Honduran Ministry of Labor on August 15, 2012.

SITRAINBA 8 marzo 2013

But instead of recognizing and bargaining with SITRAINBA as required by Honduras’ labor law, Tres Hermanas’ management has launched a campaign of anti-union harassment, including firing four women who were prominent union supporters. These egregious violations of the workers’ internationally recognized right to organize are all the more shocking since the plantations are Rainforest Alliance certified.

Take a stand against union busting by sending a letter to Tres Hermanas demanding that the management bargain with SITRAINBA and reinstate the fired union members.

Learn more about the International Labor Rights Forum and their work to build a better world for workers.

What started as a once-in-a while blog post is now a weekly series. There’s lots going on in the Fair Trade movement, so look to our weekly Round Ups for current updates. Each Round Up will feature two sections: Fair Trade Movement News and Global Exchange Fair Trade News.

FAIR TRADE MOVEMENT NEWS

Photo credit: Fast Company

Restaurant giant Bon Appetit announced a commitment to introduce Cordillera Fair Trade Certified chocolate in all of its kitchens. Fast Company’s Ariel Schwartz reports on this recent development:

Fair Trade Chocolate hit the big time this week as restaurant management giant Bon Appetit announced a commitment to introduce Cordillera Fair Trade Certified chocolate in all of its kitchens beginning on Valentine’s Day. This is a big deal–Bon Appetit provides cafe and catering services to corporations, colleges, and universities in 400 locations throughout 29 states. When the company makes a change in its food sourcing practices, it has a ripple effect. Read the entire article here.

Fair Trade Resource Network Webinars

–Fair Trade Webinar 105 Community Discussion of TransFair’s Name Change to Fair Trade USA, and Pending Service Mark Application took place on 2/9/2011. Panelists included Fair Trade USA CEO Paul Rice, Equal Exchange’s Answer Man Rodney North and United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries Minister for Economic Justice, Edie Rassell. If you missed it, you can download the webinar for just $5 or wait until March 30th when it will become available for free on FTRN’s website.

–Fair Trade Webinar 106 Minimum Fair Trade Content Standards for Multi-ingredient Products is coming up. Here are the details of this highly anticipated webinar:
Date: February 28
Time: 2:00-2:50pm EST
Investment: just $5!
Details: Minimum Fair Trade Content Standards for Multi-ingredient Products
Presenters: Dr. Bronner’s CEO, David Bronner; Ben & Jerry’s Director of Social Mission, Rob Michalak

World Fair Trade Day 2011 Poster Design

Take Part in World Fair Trade Day
To join in the World Fair Trade Day celebration, the Fair Trade Resource Network is inviting you to host a World Fair Trade Day event during May 1-15 and post your event to their website to help promote it.

Download the free World Fair Trade Day (WFTD) Activities Guide for tips, ideas, and resources, plus order WFTD promotional posters and postcards, and Fair Trade products – most free of charge – all on their website www.FTRN.org.

ILO and Kuapa Kokoo partner to combat child labor in cocoa industry

The International Labour Organization (ILO)  has announced it will partner with Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union in a two-year project to assist the government of Ghana in reducing child labour. The pilot will run in 15 cocoa-growing communities affiliated with Kuapa Kokoo, the only Fairtrade certified cocoa cooperative in Ghana. The project focuses on preventing and removing children from hazardous work on cocoa farms. This includes livelihood support for vulnerable families and setting up a child labour monitoring system. Learn more here.

GLOBAL EXCHANGE FAIR TRADE NEWS

Coco-Zen Chocolate Truffles

Fair Trade Chocolate Tasting

Join us this Sunday, February 13th, for a Fair Trade chocolate tasting. San Francisco-based artisan chocolate company Coco-Zen will be providing organic, Fair Trade Certified chocolate to sample this Sunday afternoon. Bring the kids to make Valentines cards, or use our color-your-own Valentines to ask Hershey’s to go fair trade.

When: Sunday, February 13. 1pm-4pm.
Where: Global Exchange Fair Trade Store in Noe Valley (b/t Noe and Castro).
Price: FREE!

Global Exchange Fair Trade Internship
March 7th is the application deadline for summer internships at Global Exchange. So if you’re looking for a Fair Trade summer internship, visit the internship web page for more info and to apply to our Fair Trade department. Global Exchange’s internship program offers great work experience, as well as fun weekly training seminars with dozens of other interns throughout the organization.

Send a Valentine Message to Hershey’s
Make valentines (or print out and color in this pdf) asking the Hershey’s CEO to start sourcing Fair Trade Certified cocoa. Global Exchange will email you a coupon for 10% off your purchase at any Global Exchange store if you scan your valentine and email it to us to be posted online. Deadline to email all valentines is Friday, February 18.  Visit our website for more details.

WIN Fair Trade prizes by telling educators about Fair Trade curriculum

That’s right…you can win Fair Trade prizes just by telling educators about Global Exchange’s Fair Trade curriculum. This information helps teachers teach the issues of child labor in the cocoa industry. Educators can win prizes by teaching the curriculum, too. More info here.

Host a Dark Side of Chocolate Screening during National Week of Action.

I did, which you can read about here. We make it easy for you to show this compelling new documentary about the continued use of child labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry. Order a copy plus a screening toolkit for just $6.

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Check back each week right here on our Fair Trade blog for more Fair Trade News Round-Ups…your one-stop shop for current Fair Trade news and events. And if you’ve got big Fair Trade news to share, email me!

The central Asian country of Uzbekistan is currently one of the world’s largest exporters of cotton, selling over 800,000 tons of this ‘white gold’ a year. However, behind this ‘white gold’ lies a dark story of widespread government-sponsored forced child labor and harrowing working conditions.

A report released by the International Labor Rights Forum, reveals that for decades the Uzbek government has used the forced labor of its schoolchildren starting in the early primary grades, college and university students, and civil servants, to harvest that cotton by hand. After the beginning of the school year, the government orders the closure of schools in order for children to report to the fields for the cotton harvest.

Working conditions are dangerous often leading to injuries and sometimes death. Children who refuse to participate in the cotton harvest are either beaten or face mental intimidation. Parents are unable to speak out against their children’s forced labor for fear of losing jobs or getting social services taken away.

This is where your voice is needed. The cotton harvest season has recently begun and just like every other year, children are being taken out of school, put in the fields and are missing out on much needed education. The cotton picked ends up on the clothes that you and I buy. Our allies at the International Labor Rights Forum have worked hard and have been able to get most major companies to speak out publicly about Uzbek cotton and/or develop company policies related to Uzbek cotton. Recently, Abercrombie & Fitch has announced that it has a policy of not sourcing Uzbek cotton, however Gymboree, the children’s clothing store, has consistently been unresponsive to inquiries from shareholders and advocates.

Global Exchange’s SweatFree campaign encourages you to take action to eradicate the use of child labor in Uzbek cotton fields. Demand that Gymboree end their silence.

For more information about child labor in Uzbekistan, visit the International Labor Rights Forum’s Cotton Campaign. Also be sure to watch Environmental Justice Foundation’s film: White Gold – The True Cost of Cotton.

White Gold – the true cost of cotton from Environmental Justice Foundation on Vimeo.

In addition, if you are in Washington, DC Sunday, October 24th, check out the Fair Trade Pavilion at the Green Festival. Naik Banavanthu from Global Exchange, along with Amanda White of Green America and Tim Newman of the International Labor Rights Forum will host a panel discussion titled, Fair Trade Cotton: Can it Make a Difference?

This panel will discuss issues in the process of producing cotton in India and its effects on small farmers, children and the environment. Speakers will also discuss the impact of Fair Trade cotton and apparel.

The panel will be Sunday, October 24th at 1:30PM.

photo credit: Noam Armonn