Two coffee farms in Brazil that are supposed to be certified “fair trade” from the Rainforest Alliance have been found to be exploiting workers.

An investigative bombshell in Brazil found that seasonal workers were hired informally and without legally mandated medical tests and many workers had half their wages taken for no reason -- meaning Rainforest Alliance coffee workers were making less than Brazil’s minimum wage, which is only $228 a month.

Whole Foods advertises that its Rainforest Alliance coffee label is guaranteed to “protect the well-being of local communities.” Whole Foods customers want peace of mind that the people who worked hard to grow and harvest their coffee were compensated fairly.

Join us and tell Whole Foods to demand Rainforest Alliance makes sure its workers are paid what they deserve.

It’s not just the fact that these workers were exploited and then their coffee sold as ethical and fair trade. The report from Réporter Brasil, the newspaper that published the exposé, shows that there could be many more issues but the certification process has no transparency. In one case, a farm was labelling its beans fair trade when it had absolutely no right or permission to do so.

SumOfUs members like us have been fighting worker exploitation by corporations for years. When reports surfaced that Walmart was sourcing its seafood from slave-run shrimp boats and peeling factories, over 160,000 of us raised our voices -- and we forced it to clean up its supply chains. Now we need to do it in Brazil.

Demand that Whole Foods pressures Rainforest Alliance into coming clean about its supply chain and stop exploiting its farm workers!

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