Valentine’s Day is only a few more days away and that means one of two things for most people, flowers or chocolate! Sadly both of these romantic tokens are tainted by slavery and unfair labor practices. As I mentioned in my recent piece, Do Your Part to Have an Untainted Valentines, that UNICEF estimates that some 200,000 children are victims of trafficking each year in West and Central Africa alone, for the purpose of working in the supply chain for products such as; cocoa and coffee. Child trafficking continues to plague the cocoa fields of West Africa, which is the source of 70% of the world’s cocoa. The story behind most of our romantic flower bouquets isn’t much prettier than the story of child slavery and exploitation of cocoa. According to Global March Against Child Labor one in every eight children from 5 to 17 years old, some 179 million, work in the worst forms of child labor, they are just a segment of an the estimated 246 million child laborers around the globe. These children are placed in hazardous working conditions in order to ensure that we we get our sweet and sensual valentine treats at low prices.
Ecuador and Colombia, are two of America’s largest flower producers, most of their workers are females who are exploited and sexually assaulted and harassed, while also facing unsafe working conditions. A shocking look into a rarely thought of agricultural market Frontline’s documentary on abuses in the flower fields of Ecuador highlights much of the abuses that farm workers and their families face. In Kenya workers on flower farms, have reported being forced to work 12-hour days for less than a dollar in wages. Others say they’ve been raped while on their dangerous, dark routes to work at five in the morning (AWCFS). The sad part about such abuses to workers is they are needless. Fair-trade flower producers are creating sustainable flowers while offering workers competitive wages, daycare programs, and safety, and others need follow suit.
The problem in the flower industry is changing, but it has been difficult to get major flower distributors to sell them. Currently, 1-800-Flowers one of the country’s leading retailers. The company has been under great scrutiny and public outcry as they still failed to offer even one fair-trade stemmed flower, additionally the company refuses to tell activists where their flowers originate. However thanks to a large petition and movement on Change.org the company has finally made a statement that they plans to offer a Fair Trade flower collection by this Mother’s Day. As well the company has stated that they will “publish information on flower sourcing, and create a code of conduct for suppliers that prohibits forced and child labor. These steps make them one of the most proactive and responsive companies in the industry, and we thank them for their commitment to workers’ rights”. We do hope that this is one commitment they will not fall short on and will lead the way for other in the industry to do the same. Another major retailer FTD’s website showed a result that was nothing close to sweet and just as a search results showed nothing fair-trade certified.
This Valentine’s Day you can work to make sure your flowers are lacking the sent of exploitation and are simply sweet smelling by shopping at companies that label all their flowers with the “fair-trade certified” seal, such as: One World Flowers, World Flowers, and the Inbloom Group
