A group of labor rights demanded Starbucks On Thursday, claiming that he obtained coffee from an important cooperative In Brazil whose member farms were cited to keep workers in slave conditions.
International rights defenders filed the lawsuit at the United States District Court in Washington on behalf of eight Brazilian coffee farm workers.
The lawsuit alleges that Starbucks violated the US traffic laws by continuing to buy Cooxupe coffee even after the Brazilian authorities repeatedly summoned the cooperative for trafficking and forced labor violations.
The plaintiffs, who were not appointed in the claim because Defenders of International Rights He said they fear compensation, they claim that they were attracted to farms with the promise of a good pay and working conditions. But instead, they were placed in dirty homes and the cost of their transport, food and equipment deduced from their salary.
“Consumers are paying obscene amounts for a cup of Starbucks coffee that was harvested by trafficked slaves,” said the founder of the defenders of international rights, Terry Collingsworth, which represents the plaintiffs. “It’s time to hold Starbucks to benefit from human trafficking.”
Starbucks said Thursday that the claim statements have no merit.
The company said it only buys coffee of a small fraction of the 19,000 members of the Coxupe coffee farm. All Starbucks coffee comes from farms whose work and environmental practices meet the company’s standards, he said. Starbucks said his verification program was developed by external experts and includes regular third -party audits.
“Starbucks is committed to the ethical supply of coffee, including help to protect the rights of people who work on the farms where we buy coffee,” the company said in a statement.
Cooxupe said Thursday that it was not part of the demand and that he does not have access to her.
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Associated Press Mauricio Savaresee writer in Sao Paulo contributed.
