Vote for Fair Trade Chocolate

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Vote for Fair Trade Chocolate

 

Source: Global Exchange

Posted: March 14, 2002

 

March 30th Day of Education & Action: Swing the Votes for

Fair Trade!

 

M & M/Mars is currently asking consumers to vote for a new

color of M & M's. On March 30th, participate in a Nationwide

Day of Education and Action to rally the vote for Fair Trade

Certified chocolate, the color of freedom and dignity!

 

Activists across the USA will go to their biggest local

movie theaters to ask people to fill out special " Fair Trade

M & M's Ballots! " It is easy to organize something in your

community!

 

E-mail melissa@globalexchange for a packet of

materials including special ballots, flyers, background

information, and guidelines for planning your event. Be sure

to check out our web site for more information:

http://www.globalexchange.org/cocoa

 

Background: Crisis in the Cocoa Industry!

 

POVERTY WAGES: " We had very hard times in the 1980s when the

price of cocoa beans went down. The money we used to get

from selling our cocoa beans to the government didn't give

us enough to buy materials or a pump for our own water

supply. Many farmers were so desperate that they sold the

cacao trees for wood. "

-- Asamoah, cocoa farmer from Kuapa Kokoo

 

CHILD SLAVERY: The US State Department, the ILO, and UNICEF

have recently reported child slavery on cocoa farms in the

Ivory Coast, the origin on 43% of the world's cocoa.

" Beatings were a part of my life. Anytime they loaded you

with bags and you fell while carrying them, they beat you

and beat you until you picked it up again. I was always

thinking about my parents and how I could get back to my

country. I had seen others who tried to escape. When they

tried they were severely beaten. "

-- Aly, 14, former slave

 

The Problem?

 

Global cocoa prices have plummeted in recent years, leaving

cocoa farmers unable to meet their own needs or pay their

workers adequately.

 

Some US Chocolate companies including M & M/Mars have pledged

to work towards ending child slavery by 2005. However, their

plan does not guarantee fair wages for adults, which is the

only way to insure that slavery and poverty are both brought

to an end.

 

The Solution!

 

Fair Trade Certification, which guarantees a minimum price

of $.80 per pound, would allow cocoa plantation owners to

pay their workers a living wage AND cease the practice of

child slavery.

 

Mars is one of the largest American chocolate companies and

a leader in the global chocolate industry. They are the 4th

largest private company in the US and their 3 owners are

worth a combined $27 billion. Surely they can afford to

offer the Fair Trade alternative!

 

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