The Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Fair Trade’s meeting in May presented the Fairtrade Foundation’s new Brew It Fair campaign, along with Oxfam GB’s findings from a recent report exploring the experiences of women workers in global supply chains.
The Brew It Fair campaign calls for a fair future for tea producers. The Fairtrade Foundation says:
“Despite high levels of unstable work, low incomes and wages, gender discrimination and unsafe working conditions, most businesses are still not taking responsibility for the impact their purchasing practices have on the people in their supply chains. Urgent action is needed to support the people at the end of these supply chains to create positive change for themselves, their communities and our shared environment.”
We are pleased to see Colin Smyth MSP, Convener of the Cross Party Group, submit a motion to Parliament in support of the Brew It Fair campaign asks. At the time of writing, 14 other MSPs have shown their support for the motion, and we would encourage you to seek support from your MSPs for the motion as follows:
That the Parliament recognises what it sees as the grave working and living conditions that many tea growing communities face across the world; supports calls for UK legislation to make it mandatory for businesses to carry out human rights and environmental due diligence in their supply chains and level the playing field for responsible businesses; endorses multi-stakeholder dialogue in the tea sector to build progress towards living incomes and living wages for tea growers, and urges the UK Government to honour its International Climate Finance commitment to support tea growing communities to adapt and build resilience to climate change.
Read the Fairtrade Foundation’s Brew It Fair Report.
Image: Fairtrade Foundation
