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Hypocritical Starbucks stole trademark and pays producers a pittance
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jumpinjo
about 1 year ago about Starbucks
You remember Bono saying that equitable trade is key in overcoming poverty? Well, Starbucks they are preventing Ethiopians from putting a foot on the ladder out of poverty.
Meanwhile they are benefiting enormously from a false, farmer-friendly image.
At the end of the day, they are not paying a fair price to suppliers.
AND There is strong evidence that they are still working “behind the scenes” to block the Ethiopian’s application to trademark their coffee varieties.
Starbucks have refused to sign “a voluntary licensing agreement tabled by Ethiopia, which would recognise Ethiopia’s ownership of its coffee names”
Starbucks perhaps deny some of this and cloud the issue with sustainability reports. But Oxfam are quite clear about this (despite having previously worked with Starbucks). I know who I believe on this matter.
Starbucks
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Other recent stories about Starbucks
- Starbucks, Ethiopia Agree on Licensing
- Starbucks, Ethiopia Agree on Licensing [read more]
- Workers of the World Unite Against Starbucks (Nation/AlterNet Article)
- Although Starbucks has an image of being social concerned, how it treat its workers contradicts the image…. [read more]
- Starbucks Nears Deal With Ethiopia
- Starbucks Nears Deal With Ethiopia By JANET ADAMY May 4, 2007; Page B3, WSJ [read more]
- NY Starbucks' Accused of Union-Busting
- In the April 8 edition of the NY Times, the paper printed an article detailing accusations against Starbucks, that it uses 1930’s style policies to union-bust. The article is “Latte Laborers Take on a Latte-Liberal Business.” [read more]
- Starbucks supports local causes
- Did you know that nearly every Starbucks opens with a charity partnership? [read more]
Comments
Skeptical
submitted by WedgeTalon (verified representative for DeliHosting) about 1 year ago
I’ve seen a lot of talk (and “outrage”) about this, but I’ve seen very few FACTS.
The one hard fact I’ve seen is that Ethiopians farmers earn 3 cents for every cup sold. So, I must ask, firstly, is this 3 cents PER FARMER or is it the farmers AS A GROUP earn 3 cents? Second, 3 cents tells us nothing of the relative value of our dollar to them. A person in, say, India can earn far less USD per year than a worker in the USA and STILL be BETTER OFF. Perhaps it is a similar situation for Ethiopia. Lastly, what’s the average number of cups sold per year by Starbucks? While 3 cents per cup may SOUND small, what if 100 Billion cups are sold per year? That would be 3 Billion dollars (eg, Not A Small Amount).
If anyone takes the time to answer me, than I thank you in advance.
submitted by wilby34 about 1 year ago
The link in this story is to a commentary. Here is a link to the news article
Starbucks Pays Farmers Well
submitted by IdeaSandbox about 1 year ago
The trademark discussion and pricing discussion are two different issues/conversations. While you may not be pleased with the position Starbucks has taken regarding trademarking of coffee, that has nothing to do with how much Starbucks pays farmers.
Often, if not all the time, the prices Starbucks pays to farmers is more than a farmer would get if they had a Fair Trade farm. You could say Starbucks sells Fairer Traded coffee because of this.
Finally people don’t realize that Starbucks is a small roaster compared to the mega-roasters. These are the folks who are trying to get coffee as cheaply as possible. But if you want to protest Folgers or Maxwell House coffee, what do you do? Picket in the grocery aisle?
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