Current Events > Starbucks/Nestle using child labor to pick beans with kids as young as 8yrs old

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.jpost.com/International/Starbucks-coffee-bean-farms-employing-children-as-young-as-eight-619455

Starbucks is being accused of breaching child labor laws after it was revealed by United Kingdom-based Channel 4's Dispatches that children under the age of thirteen, and some looking as young as eight, were allegedly working on farms in Guatemala picking coffee beans being supplied to the large American coffee franchise.Dispatches filmed the children working demanding 40-hour work weeks, earning daily wages that amount to around two large cups of Starbucks coffee. Around five of the documented farms using child labor were connected to Starbucks, another seven were linked to fueling the Nespresso supply chain, which is owned by food and drink processing conglomerate Nestle.
Some of the children worked six days a week, for eight hours a day. The wages were dependent on the child's daily harvested load, with many youngsters earning $6.4 a day on average, in some cases less than 25 cents an hour - loads could oftentimes weigh up to 45 kg.A human right's lawyer privy to the documentary footage proclaims that the evidence suggests both companies are in breach of international labor laws according to guidelines set by the United Nations International Labor Organization.The conventions are very clear in that they dont want childrens education to be compromised. If children are working 40 hours a week, there is no way they can also be having a proper education, said Oliver Holland of solicitors Leigh Day. These are all unsafe conditions for children essentially, and in those conditions children simply shouldnt be working.Dispatches calculated, for every 2.50 spent on a cup of coffee from Starbucks, 88 pence goes to the store. Around 63 pence goes to staff wages, 38 pence for taxes. Starbucks itself earns 25 pence - leaving 10 pence for the coffee suppliers, of which 1 pence goes to paying the workers.

I think it's a pretty open secret that most if not all mega corporations use 3rd world country labor to make their products because it's extremely profitable, the modernized world and their customers don't care and the governments don't care either.

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Doesn't seem great.

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It sucks but jobs such as these are the only honest sources of income these people can get. Shut these down and they either will resort to crime, gangs, or selling themselves even to make ends meat.

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Prismsblade posted...

It sucks but jobs such as these are the only honest sources of income these people can get. Shut these down and they either will resort to crime, gangs, or selling themselves even to make ends meat.

They said this about American chattel slavery

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I'm shocked
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Nestle just continues this, despite consumers having known about it for decades. Man, late stage capitalism is brutal.

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PikachuSurprisedFace.jpg

Next you're gonna tell me iPhone is using child labor to build phones

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Bernie 2020
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jcmason posted...

Nestle just continues this, despite consumers having known about it for decades. Man, late stage capitalism is brutal.

Capitalism doesn't force companies to use child labor. There are always other options.

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Capitalism is shit

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big yikes

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Those kids work harder than the teens and 20 year olds I have to train

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*horrible thing is happening*

person on CE: "Let's use this to advance the agenda I believe in instead of focusing on how horrible this is"

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MeltyAlert posted...

*horrible thing is happening*

person on CE: "Let's use this to advance the agenda I believe in instead of focusing on how horrible this is"

You sure do like to say dumb shit

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Yeah yeah but have you guys heard about Chick Fil-a

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MeltyAlert posted...

Capitalism doesn't force companies to use child labor. There are always other options.

That's where it's inevitably going to lead, though. Capitalism is exploitative by nature, and you can't trust the people in charge to make good standing, moral decisions. You just can't.

Like you can't trust a socialist/communist leader to not pocket most of the country's funds for themselves and do whatever it takes to maintain their control (IE: violent dictatorship).

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That's horrible. What is going to be done?
Anyone gonna bring it up to the UN?

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MeltyAlert posted...

Capitalism doesn't force companies to use child labor. There are always other options.

True but it doesn't discourage it either. And if a company isn't discouraged from using cheap child labor and they have no personal compunction against it they'll use it because it makes them the most money.

We as the consumers are partially to blame too. If you know Starbucks/Nestle is benefiting from child labor and you still support those products, you are effectively endorsing the practice. If people appropriately took these companies to task for this they would be forced to change.

The consumers lack of faultlessness in no way excuses or justifies the decision makers who are okay with using child labor to begin with. You have to be a special kind of monster to sign off on that. Even if your consumers let you do it.

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Lol the hypocrisy of all those dumb liberals drinking Starbucks 24/7

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Blue_Inigo posted...

Capitalism is shit

lol what

It's horrible but not surprising.

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Gheb posted...

True but it doesn't discourage it either. And if a company isn't discouraged from using cheap child labor and they have no personal compunction against it they'll use it because it makes them the most money.

We as the consumers are partially to blame too. If you know Starbucks/Nestle is benefiting from child labor and you still support those products, you are effectively endorsing the practice. If people appropriately took these companies to task for this they would be forced to change.

The consumers lack of faultlessness in no way excuses or justifies the decision makers who are okay with using child labor to begin with. You have to be a special kind of monster to sign off on that. Even if your consumers let you do it.

Very reasonable and true post. Yes, I would say nothing discourages it - just the result of high demand and an owner who makes a very poor decision. And yes, I agree...if you support those companies, then you're condoning this filth.

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malenz posted...

lol what

Did I stutter?

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MeltyAlert posted...

*horrible thing is happening*

person on CE: "Let's use this to advance the agenda I believe in instead of focusing on how horrible this is"

The hell is some dying gamer messageboard going to actually do about this anyway?

Gheb posted...

True but it doesn't discourage it either. And if a company isn't discouraged from using cheap child labor and they have no personal compunction against it they'll use it because it makes them the most money.

We as the consumers are partially to blame too. If you know Starbucks/Nestle is benefiting from child labor and you still support those products, you are effectively endorsing the practice. If people appropriately took these companies to task for this they would be forced to change.

The consumers lack of faultlessness in no way excuses or justifies the decision makers who are okay with using child labor to begin with. You have to be a special kind of monster to sign off on that. Even if your consumers let you do it.

People keep saying the consumers could just stop paying for it, but any power consumers have is too decentralized to have any real impact on companies as big as Nestle.

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AlisLandale posted...

People keep saying the consumers could just stop paying for it, but any power consumers have is too decentralized to have any real impact on companies as big as Nestle.

So the alternative is to keep using the products anyway? Obviously no one person is changing anything by avoiding the product, but you are actively making it worse by consuming it.

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You guys realize they aren't forcing these kids to work right? People in other countries are just happy to have jobs because they'll starve otherwise. What? Do you want to take away one of their main sources of income? Do you want them to all be unemployed and starve? Fuck off

A lot of privledged people ITT

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Gheb posted...

So the alternative is to keep using the products anyway? Obviously no one person is changing anything by avoiding the product, but you are actively making it worse by consuming it.

Moreso just pointing out that any solution to these problems that starts with consumers is dead in the water 99.9 percent of the time.

Capitalism is a perfectly fine economic tool, but the idea that consumers can vote with their wallet is an absolute fantasy

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Squall28 posted...

You guys realize they aren't forcing these kids to work right? People in other countries are just happy to have jobs because they'll starve otherwise. What? Do you want to take away one of their main sources of income? Do you want them to all be unemployed and starve? Fuck off

A lot of privledged people ITT

Shut the fuck up

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i'm glad i don't drink coffee.

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Do Starbucks/Nestle own the farm companies that send them the coffee beans?

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AlisLandale posted...

People keep saying the consumers could just stop paying for it, but any power consumers have is too decentralized to have any real impact on companies as big as Nestle.

Normally true,with social media however, it could blow up, go viral perhaps.
It would be nice/helpful if these same organizations that investigate continue to cause a big stink about it publicly.

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malenz posted...

lol what

you seem to think capitalism is the disease that caused this. greed is.

Blue_Inigo posted...

Did I stutter?

you seem to think capitalism is the disease that caused this. greed is. it could happen under socialism as well.

AlisLandale posted...

Moreso just pointing out that any solution to these problems that starts with consumers is dead in the water 99.9 percent of the time.

Capitalism is a perfectly fine economic tool, but the idea that consumers can vote with their wallet is an absolute fantasy

True to a degree.

Squall28 posted...

You guys realize they aren't forcing these kids to work right? People in other countries are just happy to have jobs because they'll starve otherwise. What? Do you want to take away one of their main sources of income? Do you want them to all be unemployed and starve? Fuck off

A lot of privledged people ITT

They should
A. Be paid a better income that isn't sweatshop bs.
B. Not be children preferably. Though I understand different countries have different economic problems that may require children to make income for the families, as the family may not be making enough to get by without. Still, when dealing with American corps, I think A still applies.

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surprine surprine

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https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/a-message-from-starbucks-svp-global-coffee-zero-tolerance-for-child-labor/

"We were deeply concerned" and we investigated ourselves and found nothing wrong.


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It's pretty bad, but there are some questions the article doesn't answer. Are these farms run by Starbucks or Nestle? The article just calls them suppliers. If they're just suppliers, do they sell beans to other companies? Who else is connected? I find it real hard to believe that they're the only culprits here.

I mean, if they're just buying beans from them is there anything they can do beside stop buying from them? If that's the case they don't control the farms hiring practices.

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MeltyAlert posted...

Capitalism doesn't force companies to use child labor. There are always other options.

Yes it does when you combine it with global free trade. If you run a business and your competitor is outsourcing to produce roughly the same product with considerably lower costs, you're at a disadvantage as your competitor is more profitable and has more room to grow with the capital saved to invest back into the company for research and general expansion. For you to compete, you have no choice but to outsource as well. With global free trade, you get access to workers who cost a 10th of Americans and less regulations which sets the foundation for issues like OP's topic.

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Never had starbucks in my life and probably never will, tea all the way for me. As for nestle I haven't had nesquik in over 15 years

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You really can't apply the same rules for our countries to third world countries. You take away this child labor, you pretty much doom that child. If it was forced, it would be a totally different thing.

BobanMarjanovic posted...

Lol the hypocrisy of all those dumb liberals drinking Starbucks 24/7

you seriously think conservatives dont drink coffee?

lots of dumb meltys today
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tremain07 posted...

I think it's a pretty open secret that most if not all mega corporations use 3rd world country labor to make their products because it's extremely profitable, the modernized world and their customers don't care and the governments don't care either.

That's the very foundation upon which 1st world capitalism rests upon. Exploitation of third world resources and labor.

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ScazarMeltex posted...

That's the very foundation upon which 1st world capitalism rests upon. Exploitation of third world resources and labor.

That's exactly why capitalism is shit

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So much for fair trade coffee

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So woke of them

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That article is weird. Am I supposed to be outraged that child labor is being used or that they dont make enough? I wouldnt be more okay with this if they brought home $50 a day.

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