NEWSCONSUMERS

This Holiday season lets tell Macy’s why we need them to join almost every other major jewelry retailer committing to responsible metals sourcing. Lets tell Macy’s its time to join them and sign the “Golden Rules”.

It's time to crank up the pressure on Macy’s. We need 1 minute from you today! Today we are flooding Macy’s phone lines. Think of it as caroling against dirty gold.

We’re asking for 1 minute of your day to call Macy’s and ask them to sign the “Golden Rules” for responsible metals sourcing. We want to call two representatives at Macy’s If you can only make one call that’s great!

Don't know what to say? Here are some suggestions:

1. Hi, I'm calling to urge Terry Lundgren (CEO) and Macy’s to sign on to the No Dirty Gold campaign. I want to know that Macy’s is doing its part to ensure that the gold it sells is not tainted with human rights abuses or pollution. Please sign on to the Golden Rules. Your customers deserve better. Thank you.

Written on behalf of Nilton Deza

This year, Macy’s is asking people to write a letter to Santa to help them collect “A Million Reasons to Believe.”  We’re all for writing letters to Santa and we’ve got a couple of requests of our own:

-That gold and copper extraction in Peru will not include child and forced labor

-That one gold ring will not produce over 20 tons of waste during production

-That gold mining will not lead to the pollution of water systems and the destruction of local communities

and lastly...

-That Macy’s- one of the largest gold retailers in the world- will help to transform irresponsible gold mining by signing onto the "Golden Rules" for clean gold.

Santa might not be able to make this happen but you can.  Here’s how you can put the pressure on Macy’s this holiday season:

This week, Mars (the chocolate company behind popular favorites like M&M's) announced a major new commitment to support Fairtrade certified cocoa. Mars said that it would certify its Maltesers chocolate candy as Fairtrade in the UK and Ireland in 2012. While it may just be one product for now, Mars and Fairtrade International note that Maltesers are "the third biggest confectionery brand in the UK, and its switch will  represent more than a 10% increase in total UK Fairtrade sales," and most importantly, the commitment will lead to an excess of $1 million in additional funds as part of the Fairtrade Premium to cocoa farmers to invest in their communities. The announcement from Mars puts Hershey even further out of the mainstream by failing to commit to responsibly source its cocoa.

In 2009, Mars stepped forward as a leader among major chocolate companies in committing to certified cocoa when it announced that it would certify its entire cocoa supply as sustainably produced by 2020. This new announcement shows Mars' specific support for Fairtrade certification. Additionally, the company noted that it plans to "explore how best to scale up its purchases of Fairtrade cocoa, and will support Fairtrade’s continued efforts to develop measures that would allow more confectionery companies to increase their commitments to purchase more Fairtrade cocoa with the aim of impacting the lives of more cocoa farmers than ever before."

Amid growing scrutiny of Hershey's labor rights abuses, from its cocoa beans to its packing facility in Pennsylvania, the company has hired additional lobbyists to deflect attention from its exploitation of workers. Hershey recently hired the services of Bank Rome Government Relations to advocate for the company on "government affairs issues related to labor practices." Unfortunately for Hershey, no amount of money thrown to lobbyists will end its connection the abuse of student guestworkers or child, forced and trafficked labor in its cocoa supply chain -- only changing its policies will solve these problems.

Last month, it was revealed that student guestworkers who came to the US on J-1 visas found themselves working long hours in poor conditions for paltry wages in a Hershey packing facility in Pennsylvania. The students staged a walk out, organized massive protests in Hershey and took their message across the country, even receiving support from labor rights advocates around the world. Almost 70,000 Change.org readers have joined the campaign calling for justice for guestworkers and for living wage jobs for Pennsylvania residents. Meanwhile, Hershey has hidden behind multiple layers of subcontractors and remained silent about its connection to the exploitation of these students.

On Milton Hershey's birthday, the Raise the Bar Campaign released a new report analyzing how the company he founded has lagged behind in addressing child labor, forced labor and trafficking in the production of its primary ingredient. While Hershey is known for supporting children in communities in the US, the company has not done as much as other major chocolate companies to ensure that its cocoa is not tainted by egregious labor rights abuses.

A year after the release of the Raise the Bar Campaign's first report analyzing Hershey's cocoa purchasing policies, they have found that Hershey still does not measure up to other companies in using cocoa that has been certified to comply with international labor rights standards. Hershey has funded various programs in the world's largest cocoa growing region, West Africa, but it has not instituted policies to trace its cocoa and ensure that the cocoa it uses is not linked to the exploitation of cocoa.

Human and labor rights advocates are posting on the "fast fashion" clothing retailer Forever 21's Facebook page to tell the company that forced child labor is out of style. Uzbekistan, one of the world's largest cotton producing countries, continues to institute a policy where up to two million children are removed from school across the country and forced to pick cotton to enrich the ruling regime. While scores of companies have spoken out against the abuse and have committed to prohibit the use of cotton made by forced child labor in Uzbekistan in their supply chains, Forever 21 is lagging behind.

As part of Fashion's Night Out, a major event associated with New York Fashion Week, Forever 21 is encouraging consumers to download an app where they can get discounts for participating in a "virtual scavenger hunt." Consumers concerned about labor rights exploitation connected to their clothing are staging somewhat of a fashion day in by asking Forever 21 where it's hiding its morals.