Fair Trade Movement News: Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State

University of Wisconsin Oshkosh to become first Fair Trade university in US
On the opening day of the fall 2008 semester, Chancellor Wells officially declared the university to be a Fair Trade University. UW Oshkosh's four governing bodies endorsed a resolution outlining its commitment to: selling Fair Trade certified coffee, tea and chocolate in dining establishments, at catered functions and in department offices whenever feasible and within the confines of its food service contract; offering Fair Trade Certified food products and handicrafts at University stores whenever possible, and identifying and acknowledging Fair Trade certified products and encouraging their purchase by students, faculty and staff. The Fair Trade program will be overseen by the newly formed Campus Sustainability Council.

LRC's Fair Trade Project is planning a Fair Trade Campus campaign in connection with coffee served on campuses of public colleges and universities in New York state. Click here for information from several State University of NY schools.

Slave-free label still missing
Even though the chocolate industry committed to ending the worst forms of child labor in cocoa production by July 1, 2008, the slave-free label is still missing from lots of chocolate boxes…and chocolate bars and ice cream and syrup and other products made with cocoa. And it’s not just because industry talked Congress into a voluntary agreement in place of the 2001 legislation that would have created a mandatory slave-free label for chocolate, which was passed in the House of Representatives by a landslide. It is also because virtually none of the chocolate you buy as a consumer could be certified as “slave-free” if that label existed today.

Excerpt from "Tainted Love? Chocolate-Lovers: Cocoa Industry Set to Be a Heartbreaker on July 1, 2008," Common Dreams, June 27, 2008

Cocoa Company Scorecard
The problem of trafficked child labor in cocoa harvesting surfaced in 2001 and consumers have been demanding reform since that time. The chocolate companies have all made lofty promises, but how many have delivered? Visit the web site of International Labor Rights Forum to see a 2007 report.

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FAIR TRADE IS A PARTNERSHIP BASED ON DIALOGUE, TRANSPARENCY AND RESPECT, THAT SEEKS GREATER EQUITY IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE.

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