Honest Fair Trade Labels Are Necessary

According to a report released this week by the Washington, DC-based International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), the Swiss-based Institute for Marketecology (IMO), bestowed its “Fair for Life” certification on Seattle-based Theo Chocolate, despite being informed by Theo workers that the company had hired an anti-union consultant and was violating the international labor standards promoted by Fair For Life during a union organizing campaign. Although many codes of conduct guarantee the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, in practice workers in fair trade supply chains often face barriers to exercising their rights. To address these barriers the report recommends fair trade certifiers make their auditing results transparent and establish an “International Fair Trade Board of Appeal” to assess and remedy instances where fair trade organizations mishandle cases involving allegations of workers’ rights violations. IMO claims to be transparent. Yet the institute refused to release the results of its investigation. All workers heard was that IMO upheld the certification and then, nearly two years later, that the case had been closed.  The lack of recourse for workers, and the lack of accountability among certifications like Fair for Life, is unacceptable. That’s why the ILRF is proposing a new approach that would increase the transparency of certifiers and give consumers additional confidence in fair trade products.

Demand Independent Inspections for Keystone XL Pipeline!

What 20-year-old Isabel Brooks, and two of her friends, discovered while they locked themselves inside a segment of the Keystone XL pipeline to protest its construction, is disturbing! While inside the pipe, they found that there are actually holes in the Keystone XL pipeline, created by faulty welding. Moments after snapping a photo of the light coming into the supposedly airtight pipe, Isabel was arrested and held for 24 days in prison. An hour after her arrest, TransCanada laid that segment of pipeline in the ground without inspecting it. Despite federal regulations making independent inspection mandatory, TransCanada pipeline contractors hire their own pipeline inspectors. Without truly independent oversight, TransCanada can cut corners, and rubber stamp inspections. And when TransCanada cuts corners, communities, farmland, water, health and the planet suffer. It is not a question of whether or not the pipeline will spill, but when. In the Keystone pipeline’s first year of operation, it spilled 12 times. This is a huge moment to show just how dangerous the KXL pipeline really is. With each day that passes, TransCanada is moving ahead with the construction of this pipeline, potentially burying more uninspected pipe, and putting more communities at risk. Sign the urgent petition to TransCanada now demanding independent pipeline inspection.