From: SIUHIN@aol.com
Date: Wed May 08 2002 - 02:15:14 EDT
Sign-On Letter to M&M/Mars
Date: 5/7/2002 6:11:43 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: <A HREF="mailto:melissa@globalexchange.org">melissa@globalexchange.org</A>
ACTION ALERT *** ACTION ALERT *** ACTION ALERT *** ACTION ALERT
URGENT Sign-On Letter for Global Fairness Vote!
May 31st Closing Date of M&M/Mars Global Color Vote
Dear Fair Trade advocate,
You were probably as shocked as we were when we first heard the horrific
exposes about child slave labor in cocoa production in West Africa.
Some US Chocolate companies including M&M/Mars have pledged to work towards
taking steps to combat child slavery by 2005. However, their plan does not
guarantee fair wages for adults, which is the only way to ensure that
slavery and poverty are both brought to an end. Fair Trade Certification
offers a comprehensive solution because it guarantees a minimum price per
pound and prohibits child and forced labor.
Global Exchange has recently launched a campaign to get global chocolate
industry giant M&M/Mars to buy Fair Trade chocolate.
M&M/Mars is currently asking consumers to vote for a new color of M&M's. We
need your help to swing the vote in favor of Fair Trade Certified, the color
of dignity and freedom!
We are asking all organizations that support Fair Trade to participate by
signing on to a letter, included below, asking the leadership of M&M/Mars to
buy Fair Trade chocolate.
In addition, we would be very appreciative of any opportunity to speak with
your organization about working together to promote Fair Trade. Please call
us or email us to brainstorm and discuss ideas.
Thank you for your commitment to Fair Trade for farmers,
Deborah & Melissa
For more info please check out www.globalexchange.org/cocoa
To send a personal letter, click on
http://www.globalexchange.org/cocoa/faxMMMars031402.html
**********************************************************************
Please return to:
TO: Deborah James, Fair Trade Director
Melissa Schweisguth, Fair Trade Coordinator
Email: fairtrade@globalexchange.org
RE: Endorsement for Fair Trade M&M/Mars Sign on letter
Step 1 ___ YES! Add our name to the SIGN-ON letter for M&M/Mars.
Step 2 ___ YES! Sign me up on the once-a-week listserv to keep updated.
Step 3 ___ YES! Please send us an organizing packet.
Step 4 ___ YES! Please send me the Action Alert for individuals on email.
Step 5 ___ YES! Send info about working together to promote Fair Trade.
Step 6 ...... M&M/Mars agrees to sign on to Fair Trade for cocoa farmers!
Date:
Name:
Title:
Organization:
# of people your group represents:
Address:
CitySTZip:
Email:
Phone:
FAX:
**********************************************************************
Paul Michaels, President
M&M/Mars Inc.
6885 Elm St.
McLean, VA 22101
May 31, 2002
Dear Mr. Michaels,
We, the undersigned organizations, represent a diverse group of churches,
unions, student and consumer groups, environmental and economic justice
organizations, and others who are concerned about 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, several recent reports have revealed the existence of
child slave labor in the cocoa industry. The reemergence of child slavery
can be blamed, in part, on low prices in the cocoa industry over the last
ten years. At present, cocoa farmers receive about 1 cent for a regular
candy bar. As a result of insufficient revenues, 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 M&M/Mars, for cocoa farmers and workers, the results
have been tragic.
Although slavery is the most prominent and egregious labor rights violation,
we join with the Child Labor Coalition, Free the Slaves, and the
International Union of Foodworkers in supporting the need to not only to
eliminate child slavery, but to ensure that all International Labor
Organization conventions are enforced, starting with Conventions 182 (the
worst forms of child labor) and 29 (forced labor).
We are aware that this past year that M&M/Mars, along with other members of
the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and the World Cocoa Foundation,
agreed to take steps to eliminate child slavery and work towards enforcement
of ILO conventions by releasing a Protocol and Joint Statement. This is a
positive development. However, it does nothing to correct the low world
cocoa prices that are a root cause of exploitative 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.
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 farmersı harvests and prohibits
the worst forms of child labor and forced labor. Your Protocol states that
³we also share the view that practices in violation of ILO Conventions 182
and 29 result from poverty and a complex set of social and economic
conditions often faced by small family farmers and agricultural workers, and
that that effective solutions to address these violations must include
action by appropriate parties to improve overall labor standards and access
to education.² Only when cocoa producers are paid such a fair and stable
income will they be able to rise above poverty, experience permanent
improvements in overall labor standards, and 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. TransFair USA
already certifies over 120 companies in the U.S. that market Fair Trade
coffee and tea, and has the capacity to certify chocolate companies such as
M&M/Mars.
Although Fair Trade Certified cocoa products are widely available in Europe,
no U.S. companies have yet taken advantage of this opportunity. Fair Trade
cooperatives produce cocoa in Ghana, Cameroon, Brazil, Nicaragua, Belize,
the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. Last year, cooperatives in
these countries produced 89 million pounds of cocoa, yet only 3 million
pounds of it was sold at Fair Trade prices. Clearly there is sufficient
supply for expanding the Fair Trade cocoa market to companies that offer
quality chocolate products such as M&M/Mars. Fair Trade also specifies that
producers must be small farmers. Given that 90% of all cocoa worldwide is
produced by small farmers who own 12 acres or less, Fair Trade could
certainly be a reality for the majority of the worldıs cocoa producers, if
only companies like M&M/Mars would buy Fair Trade cocoa.
We believe that M&M/Mars, as a leader of the $13 billion chocolate industry,
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 M&M/Mars is the 4th largest private company
in the U.S., controls almost 17% of the total U.S. chocolate market, and
garnered an estimated $15.5 billion in revenues last year.
Thus, we, the undersigned organizations, call on you to commit to purchasing
a 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. Until you agree to
offer a Fair Trade price for your cocoa, the sweetness of your chocolate
will be ruined because the cocoa producers - whose work is so central to
M&M/Marsı business - will continue to face bitter hardships.
No matter what the shade, make our M&M's Fair Trade.
Sincerely,
-- Deborah James, Fair Trade Director deborah@globalexchange.org Melissa Schweisguth, Fair Trade Coordinator melissa@globalexchange.org Global Exchange 415.255.7296 x245 or x352 415.255.7498 fax 2017 Mission Street #303, San Francisco, CA 94110 http://www.globalexchange.org/coffee http://www.globalexchange.org/cocoaAsk M&M Mars to make every shade of M&M's Fair Trade Certified, the color of dignity and freedom. http://www.globalexchange.org/cocoa/faxMMMars031402.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Mon Oct 28 2002 - 02:52:32 EST