1st May, this year perfectly on a Monday. I hope you had a good time last night and enjoy the long weekend!
The Labour Day or International Worker’s Day is for me the occasion to have a look at the working conditions of the coffee producers.
German Coffee Consumers:
- Reject child labor in the farming countries (55 %)
- Want a high level of awareness for the natural habitats of humans and animals (48 %)
- Are interested in good working conditions for coffee farmers (31 %) and
- Want more transparency about their living conditions locally (30 %)
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How does it really look locally?
Coffee is a very work-intense product, which makes little profit in the production countries, especially in the beginning of the production chain.
- Bad Salery
- In Guatemala, a day laborer gets 36 quetzales for the picking of 4 crates full of coffee cherries. That is about 3 € for 100 pounds.
- This is what a perennial worker can pick in only one day to effort money for enough food.
- Many workers on coffee plantations live in extreme poverty and suffer from malnutrition.
- Health
- The workers are exposed to fungicides and pesticides, so chemicals, on commercial coffee plantations like in Brazil.
- The soil and the water are contaminated.
- In such areas, there is often an exceptionally high number of cancer or diseases such as Parkinson’s.
- Child labor in 2010:
Fair Coffee Trade? What can you do?
- Buy coffee with fair trade or other labels, or better direct trade coffee from the roaster of your trust.
- This does guarantee no child labor and a fair pay for the workers.
- Hands off Starbucks, Nestlé, Mondelez and Co.
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