Nestlé
One-third of Nestle's chocolate is from West Africa, where over 286,000 children have been reported working in slave conditions on cocoa (chocolate) farms. Nestle promotes genetically engineered foods while claiming "the Fair Trade approach is not a solution." learn more
Nestlé is the largest food manufacturer and chocolate company in the world with over $65 billion in annual sales. Fair Trade Certification, which guarantees a modest minimum price of $.80 per pound, would establish a "floor" or minimum price that Nestlé could easily afford to pay, thus providing a fair price to small farmers, a subsistence wage for cocoa plantation workers, and an end to the practice of child slavery.
Nestle refuses to investigate the September 22, 2005 brutal assasination of Diosdado Fortuna, the leader of the Nestle union in the Philippines (the second Nestle union leader to be assasinated in this area).
Dole
Dole is the largest cut-flower producer in the world, the majority of which is imported from Columbia and Ecuador where low paid farmworkers are exposed to 127 different chemicals, including neurotoxins and carcinogens. Studies show 60% of these long-term workers have signs of early cancer. learn more
David H. Murdock, Dole's CEO, is ranked by Forbes as one of the wealthiest men in the world. If you took the amount Dole pays all of its thousands of international floral farm workers, per year, and multiplied it times 100 years, you'd still have less than the amount that Mr. Murdock is "worth" (over $2 billion), yet he refuses to have the company invest in paying its farmers liveable wages.
Dole is also responsible for union busting in Columbia (firing union supporters).
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart is the largest retailer of cut-flowers in the United States, the majority of which come from Dole. Wal-Mart is also one of the largest retailers of Valentine's chocolate candies, mainly sourced from Nestle, Mars, and Hershey.
Wal-Mart's 1,713 stores do not sell or support Fair Trade or organic chocolates or flowers.
While Wal-Mart, the world's largest corporation, rakes in over $250 billion in sales each year, the average pay for a Wal-Mart sales associate is $1,000 below the poverty line for a family of three, and the company is now well known for outsourcing its production to sweat shops.
M&Ms/Mars Inc.
M&Ms/Mars Inc. has been accused of buying from contractors who utilize child labor and child slavery on cocoa farms on the Ivory Coast.
M&M/Mars Inc. is the third wealthiest private company in the United States. The three private owners of the company are each "worth" $10.4 billion, while the West African farmers actually growing the cocoa for M&Ms chocolate make a baseline income of only $108 annually. M&M/Mars Inc. continues to report record profits while flat out refusing to consider Fair Trade. learn more
Mars Brands: 3 Musketeers, Combos, Dove,
Kal Kan, Kudos, M&Ms, Milky Way, Pedigree, Sheba,
Skittles, Snickers, Starburst, Twix, Uncle Ben's, Whiskas
Hershey's
Despite announcing record profits in 2006, Hershey's has been accused of buying from contractors who utilize child labor and child slavery on cocoa farms on the Ivory Coast.
Like M&M and Nestlé, Hershey's has banned genetically engineered soy lecithin and sweeteners from its product line in Europe, while refusing to do the same in North America.
Hershey's Brands: Hershey's, Reese's, Kit Kat, Almond Joy, Mounds, York, Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, Ice Breakers, Bubble Yum
Source:
Organic Consumers Association - http://www.organicconsumers.org/valentines/alert.htm
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