Starbucks is taking heat this week amid a lawsuit that claims the U.S coffee chain professionally abuses the very people who supply the chain coffee beans for use in its stores.
The Lowdown
According to The Guardian, 8 people who worked on a Brazilian coffee farm that supplies beans to stores like Starbucks have sued the coffee chain for a host of reasons, including forced child labor (also unpaid), and forced labor (also unpaid.) The new suit comes just one year after Starbucks had an affiliated coffee farm raided in Brazil ‘s Minas Gerais region.
An official report on the matter actually concluded that one of the young boys who ended up on the farm got there because he was trafficked and taken advantage of. In many conditions, per the report, he was often forced to work without boots or gloves in the sweltering sun.
The suit, backed by International Rights Advocates, also aims to block the import of bad-faith (in this case, obtained by forced labor or other means) coffee beans to the United States. It aims to block companies like Starbucks, McDonald’s, Dunkin’, and others from obtaining beans through nefarious means.