UUSC Programs: Economic Justice: Fair trade

More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of conventional chocolate are sold every Valentine's Day, according to the Chocolate Manufacturers Association. But while chocolate is sweet for U.S. consumers, it is often heartbreaking for cocoa producers.

Most cocoa farmers work in poverty, often forced to rely on child labor, and even child slavery, to get their products to market. Child laborers on cocoa farms face arduous work and are responsible for hazardous tasks, such as using machetes to cut cacao pods and applying pesticides without necessary protective equipment.

For years, U.S. chocolate manufacturers have said that they are not responsible for these conditions because they do not own the farms. But the $13 billion chocolate industry is heavily consolidated, with just two firms -- Hershey's and M&M/Mars -- controlling two thirds of the U.S. chocolate-candy market. Surely, these global corporations have the power and the ability to reform problems in the supply chain, if they wanted to.

Fortunately, there is a way to combat the injustices of the cocoa system: Fair Trade. For more than 20 years, Fair Trade has served as an international monitoring and certification system, guaranteeing a minimum "floor price" for small-scale producers, prohibiting abusive child labor, and promoting environmental sustainability.

What can you do to support Fair Trade on Valentine's Day?

* Participate in the National Day of Action on Valentine's Day, coordinated by UUSC's ally Global Exchange. With the help of K-6 teachers and directors of religious education in your congregations, this campaign aims to educate 500 elementary-school kids about the benefits of Fair Trade chocolate. Learn more at: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/ValentinesDay.html

* Organize your congregation to sign on to the Commitment to Ethical Cocoa Sourcing by February 14, 2008. Read the statement at http://www.laborrights.org/files/Joint%20Cocoa%20Statement%2012.07.pdf, then contact Timothy Newman at the International Labor Rights Forum (202) 347-4100 or tim.newman@ilrf.org to add your congregation's name to the list of endorsers.

* Buy Fair Trade chocolate for Valentine's Day. For a list of Fair Trade chocolate retailers, see: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/retailers.html.

* Learn more about the use of child labor in the cocoa industry at http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/background.html and http://www.laborrights.org/stop-child-labor/cocoa-campaign.