A new lawsuit accuses Starbucks Corporation of getting its products from farms that mistreat workers – a violation of its stated dedication to “ethical sourcing.”
The class action firm Hagens Berman sued the coffee chain last week in Seattle federal court following years of claims that it sources its ingredients from places that subject its workers – sometimes children – to unsafe working conditions and wage theft.
The suit cites the promise featured on packaging that says Starbucks is “committed to 100% ethical coffee sourcing” through the Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices program. It also claims there are volatile organic compounds like benzene in decaffeinated coffee beans.
“Starbucks has, over the past 10 years, been directly confronted by government authorities, United Nations agencies, investigative journalists, and worker advocates with documented accounts of forced labor, child labor, unsafe working conditions, wage theft, and other serious labor law violations on C.A.F.E. certified farms,” the suit says.
“These violations have not been isolated or aberrational. They have recurred across countries, across years, and over and over at the same farms that Starbucks represented to consumers as compliant with its ethical standards.”
Hagens Berman points to an investigation by the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations, which found, among other things, workers at Fartura farm in Brazil were placed in housing covered in mold and infested with rats.
Dead bats were found in the workers’ water tank, but Starbucks still certified the farm in its C.A.F.E. program, the suit says.
Employees at another certified farm in Brazil worked 17-hour shifts, leading some to file complaints against Starbucks and other coffee companies. Starbucks eventually revoked that farm’s certification.
And there were reports that workers at the Fazenda Klem farm were forced to harvest coffee In their bare feet and had no working bathroom.
“How a company can do business with farms like that and still tout a record of a commitment to 100% ethical sourcing is confounding. If consumers knew the truth about Starbucks’ practices, we believe they would not support this,” attorney Steve Berman said.
