Poor Farmer

"They [Starbucks] have done a lot of good things, most notably in East Timor, which has some resonance with Australians, but the fact that they displayed that attitude towards the Ethiopians indicates to me that it is not particularly coherent and that they have some way to go," - Andrew Hewett, Oxfam Australia executive director New Boss Out to Show Coffee Chain's Caring Side Julian Lee The Sydney Morning Daily April 12, 2007 STARBUCKS is to mount a drive to capture the hearts and minds of Australians as part of a wider campaign by its new managing director to "educate" consumers about the company's social values. Two months into the job Mark Ring says more could be done to play up the "commonality" of values he believes the company shares with Australians, namely a commitment to communities, the environment and fairness to its employees. "There is scepticism out there," he said. "We are an American company and a large one … so peop...

“The proposal of Ethiopian coffee farmers represents a much-needed step toward reducing the power imbalance in coffee production and ensures that farmers can truly enjoy the fruits of their own labor. If Starbucks is, as its CEO says, the “quintessential people-based business,” it will respect Ethiopian farmers and farmers around the world and end its exploitative practices.” - Michelle Castaneda Starbucks’ Policies Don’t Match Image By Michelle Castaneda Yale Daily News April 2, 2007 In response to increasing public demand for corporate social responsibility, Starbucks has undergone an image makeover. The company has recently publicized its commitment to supporting the communities that grow its coffee in Latin America, Asia and Africa, and has included one fair-trade coffee option in its menu (although I have not seen this coffee in the New Haven store for some time). Fair-trade organizations reduce the intermediary suppliers between the coffee growers and the retailers, allowing grow...

By Matt Goldman Yes! Weekly The coffee industry is now valued at $80 billion, making it one of the most lucrative commodities, second only to oil. Every day 2 billion lattes, mochas, cappuccinos and regular old cups of joe are served up worldwide. For many, coffee isn't just a morning pick me up, it's a lifestyle. In Trieste, Italy, where some of the best cups of coffee are made, baristas live by the mantra "wake up, smile... coffee." And people are willing to pay. A 16-ounce cup can go for as much as $4 at some corporate outfits. Ironically, in Sidama, Ethiopia, which supplies coffee beans to the prolific Starbucks Corp., growers on the verge of bankruptcy and famine are found literally praying for a fair price for their product. It's a staggering paradox. Tadessa Meskala, owner of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, seeks to protect himself and his farmers from this blatant exploitation. The documentary Black Gold: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, screened...

EIPO: New Website Provides Information on Ethiopia's Trademarking and Licensing Initiative CSRwire WASHINGTON, DC April, 9, 2007 Ethiopia’s Trademarking Initiative took an important step forward today with the launch of its dedicated website: www.ethiopiancoffeenetwork.com . "The aim of this initiative is to build a new form of partnership between Ethiopia and the coffee companies worldwide that sell our finest coffees - Sidamo, Yirgacheffe and Harar/Harrar. In this spirit, we invite you to join our network of licensed distributors, and we hope that the information provided in the Licensing Section gives you enough to start with the process," encouraged Getachew Mengistie, Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office. "Since late last year, Ethiopia's Trademarking Initiative has attracted literally thousands of articles, TV and radio coverage, and actions by more than 100,000 people who are direct supporters of Ethiopia. Yet amid this, sometimes it has been quite diffi...

By Daniel Gross Herald Tribune April 8, 2007 NEW YORK: On March 30, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board's New York office delivered a stinging accusation against one of the most popular retail outlets in the United States. The labor board charged that Starbucks, the ubiquitous coffee chain, had committed 30 violations of law in trying to ward off union activity at four outlets in the New York borough of Manhattan. This may be the latest salvo in a new kind of labor battle: union workers versus corporate do-gooders. The allegations that Starbucks fired employees who were supportive of unionization and threatened to fire others seem to conflict with the culture of a company that wears its conscience on its recyclable coffee-cup sleeves. "The NLRB's complaint illustrates that this is a company with a profound disrespect for workers' rights," said Daniel Gross (no relation to author), a union organizer who dished out frappuccinos and mocha lattes at Starbucks befo...

By Mary Jane Credeu Bloomberg April 5, 2007 Starbucks Corp. Chairman Howard Schultz says he can preserve the chain's coffee-house nature even as he adds seven new stores a day. ``This is really hard to do,'' Schultz said in an interview at the Seattle headquarters of the world's largest coffee-shop chain. ``And because very few people have done it before, they're out there waiting for us to fall.'' Schultz's concern about damaging what he calls ``the intimacy of the experience'' at Starbucks surfaced in February, when a memo he wrote was published in newspapers and on the Web. In it, he urged executives to re-think decisions such as using automatic espresso machines instead of having baristas draw shots by hand. He said such moves could lead to a ``watering down'' and ``commoditization.'' ``He's rightfully questioning things like whether the restrooms are clean, and how long the lines are,'' said Reed Bender, who helps...

Product is tasty, but labor is back-breaking Although there is no running water in Jimma. Ethiopia, and electricity arrived only recently, there is plenty of coffee for everyone. By Colleen Mastony / MCT Etho Online APRIL 4, 2007 JIMMA, Ethiopia — Inside the coffee plant's corrugated metal fence, men look more like mules as they lug 100-pound sacks of coffee on their backs. But as midday nears, a heavenly scent wafts from the corner, where Ahmed Achoumeto, 25, pounds a pile of black coffee beans in preparation for the noontime break. "I am terribly addicted. If I don't get coffee, I can't see properly," he said, standing barefoot in the dirt, grinding the beans with a primitive 3-foot-long wooden pestle and a mortar made of a hollowed tree stump. "Almost everyone here is addicted." Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. And in this caffeine-addled corner of the world, coffee is a blessing and a curse swirled together in a cup. Amid the lush hills and mi...