INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

GIVE HERSHEY A VALENTINE:



Valentine's Day is coming up on Monday, and now is a good time to look at the root of where a lot of our chocolate comes from ie child labour in the cocoa industry. Here's an item from the International Labor Rights Forum on what you can do to end this exploitation.
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Valentine's Day 2011 Actions for the Hershey Campaign



Valentine's Day is a major chocolate buying holiday, but your gifts for your sweetheart should not come at the expense of workers rights! Forced labor, child labor and trafficking continues in the cocoa industry in West Africa. Almost all major chocolate companies have begun to commit to using independent, third-party programs to certify that their cocoa suppliers comply with international labor standards, but Hershey continues to lag behind the industry.

There are two easy and fun ways to take action to tell Hershey to go Fair Trade leading up to Valentine's Day:

1.SEND VALENTINES TO HERSHEY! Create your own personalized Valentine telling Hershey to start using Fair Trade Certified cocoa for its products, like the iconic chocolate Kiss. Address your Valentine to Hershey CEO David J. West and mail it to: 100 Crystal A Drive, Hershey, PA 17033. You can also download this PDF of a Valentine to mail to the company. If you make your own Valentine, please do scan an image of it or take a photograph of your Valentine and send it to ILRF Campaigns Director Tim Newman at: tim.newman@ilrf.org. We'll post them online and you can get a 10% discount to Global Exchange's store by sending your images and photographs to us! Please mail your Valentines to Hershey by February 18, 2011.
2.HOST A SCREENING OF THE DARK SIDE OF CHOCOLATE! You can host a screening of this documentary that exposes the ongoing use of trafficked child labor in the cocoa industry in your community. Click here to order your DVD and click here to download a screening toolkit. ILRF and partner organizations across the country are especially encouraging people to host screenings during a national week of action leading up to Valentine's Day from February 4-14.
You can also send an e-mail to Hershey online here.

Together we can support cocoa farmers and workers and make Valentine's Day sweet for everyone!

Also, don't forget about our petitions to Hershey! You can download the petition here and collect signatures in your community.
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THE LETTER
If you want to get a jump on things go to this link to send the following letter to the Hershey Corporation.
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Subject: Time to Raise the Bar, Hershey!

As a chocolate consumer, I am deeply concerned about labor rights abuses in the cocoa industry. Forced labor, trafficking and child labor continue on West Africa's cocoa farms.

While many companies are working to trace their cocoa and institute labor standards among their suppliers, I am disappointed to learn that Hershey is lagging behind its competitors in this area. I believe you can be a leader in responsible cocoa sourcing.

I ask that you meet the goals of the “Raise The Bar, Hershey!” campaign, which include:

* an agreement to take immediate action to eliminate forced and child labor in your cocoa supply chain;

* a commitment to sourcing 100% Fair Trade Certified™ cocoa beans by 2012 for at least one of your top five selling chocolate bars that prominently displays the Hershey name; and

* a commitment to making at least one additional top five selling bar 100% Fair Trade Certified™ every two years thereafter, so that Hershey’s top five selling cocoa bars will all be 100% Fair Trade Certified™ within 10 years.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR UZBEKISTAN:

STOP CHILD LABOUR IN UZBEKISTAN:

The following appeal to pressure clothing retailer Gymboree to stop stocking items made by child labour in the country of Uzbekistan comes from the International Labour Rights Forum.

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Call Gymboree About Forced Child Labor TODAY!‏

Give Gymboree a Call TODAY about Forced Child Labor!
Call Gymboree at 1-800-222-7758 extension 7264 and leave a message saying:


"As a consumer, I want to be sure that workers are respected in the production of my clothes. Gymboree is one of a handful of major clothing companies that has not taken any action to address forced child labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry. This inaction is unacceptable and I expect your company to do more to stop this abuse today. Will you issue a statement opposing forced child labor and commit to stop sourcing Uzbek cotton today?"

Let us know how your call went here!

THANK YOU to everyone who took action last week to tell Abercrombie & Fitch and Gymboree to speak out about forced child labor in Uzbekistan's cotton industry. Your actions are definitely making a difference!

Many of you may have received a response from Abercrombie stating that the company has a policy to not source cotton from Uzbekistan due to the government's practice of removing millions of children from school and forcing them to pick cotton. It's clear that when consumers speak up, companies will listen and this commitment is an important first step. We are working to get more details from Abercrombie on how it implements this policy, especially as the government of Uzbekistan is holding a cotton fair to sell it's cotton to international traders RIGHT NOW even as children are continuing to be forced to pick cotton.

On the other hand, Gymboree, the children's clothing store, continues to be silent on the ongoing exploitation of children in the cotton industry. Gymboree needs to hear your voice TODAY. Please take a minute to call Gymboree and tell them the time for remaining silent about forced child labor is over! Check out the call-in information and sample script in the box to the right. After you make your call, let us know how it went here.

After you call Gymboree, take action on Facebook by visiting Gymboree's Facebook page and posting this message: Gymboree: Time to break the silence on forced child labor in Uzbekistan's cotton industry! Commit to stop sourcing Uzbek cotton today. Take action on Twitter by posting this message: @Gymboree: Break the silence! Commit to stop sourcing cotton made by forced child labor in Uzbekistan today!


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This message you brought to you by the International Labor Rights Forum.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR HUMAN RIGHTS:

ENDING CHILD LABOUR IN THE CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY:

Molly's favourite holiday Halloween is just around the corner, and I've begun the long process of yard decoration. There is unfortunately a really scary part of this holiday that out spooks any graveyard gremlin. I'm talking about the vampires in the international chocolate industry who prey on the blood of child workers. This Halloween the International Labor Rights Forum is presenting a selection of ways that you can help drive a stake into the heart of these blood suckers. Here's the story. >>>

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Three Ways to Stop Child Labor in the Chocolate Industry!‏

Take Action to End Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry!
It has been almost a decade since major chocolate companies committed to ending abusive child labor, forced labor and trafficking in their cocoa supply chains, but these abuses continue today. It is time to finally put an end to these egregious labor rights violations and ensure decent work for cocoa farmers. Together we CAN make a difference in the chocolate industry! Check out these new and exciting ways to take action.

1)Check out ILRF's new report on Hershey;
2)Host a Dark Side of Chocolate screening;
3)Sign up for Reverse Trick-or-Treating.
New Report on Hershey

This week, Hershey released it's first ever corporate social responsibility (CSR) report. In response, ILRF joined with Global Exchange, Green America and Oasis USA in publishing a new analysis of Hershey's CSR activities (particularly its cocoa purchasing), Time to Raise the Bar: The Real Corporate Social Responsibility Report for the Hershey Company. The report finds that Hershey lags behind its competitors in ensuring that its cocoa is produced without child labor and other abuses. You can check out the report here. After you read the report, take action by going to Hershey's CSR survey and telling Hershey that you will not be satisfied with the company's performance and transparency until it begins to source Fair Trade Certified cocoa and implement the recommendations of the "Time to Raise the Bar" report.

Host a Dark Side of Chocolate Screening

The Dark Side of Chocolate is a new documentary by U. Roberto Romano and Miki Mistrati that exposes the ongoing use of child, forced and trafficked labor in the cocoa industry in the Ivory Coast. It is a powerful film that should be seen by all chocolate consumers. Join ILRF and our campaign partners in hosting a local screening of the film. We are encouraging people across the country to show the film to their family, friends and communities throughout October 2010, especially during a national week of action starting on October 25th and culminating on Halloween.

Click here to order your copy of the Dark Side of Chocolate.

Sign up for Reverse Trick-or-Treating

Once again, ILRF is joining a broad range of organizations across the US and Canada to support Reverse Trick-or-Treating. As part of this fun action, young people go door to door in their communities handing out Fair Trade Certified chocolate and spreading awareness about labor abuses in the cocoa industry as they go trick-or-treating on Halloween. Sign up at www.ReverseTrickOrTreating.org NOW to participate! Make sure to indicate in your order form that you heard about Reverse Trick-or-Treating from the International Labor Rights Forum.
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This message was brought to you by the International Labor Rights Forum.