An exclusive investigation reveals cases of illegal deductions from employees’ wages as well as lack of toilets and protective equipment in properties that hold the seal of ‘ethical acquisition’ granted by the multinational. Workers’ representatives point out flaws in audits
Starbucks will not have wanted to be using slaves, they only pay the workers 2¢ on the cup anyway. It is a fairly minor expense in the greater scheme of things.
What it is, is an emergent risk in extended labour chains. Particularly prevalent in harvest work. At some point your supply chain transparency breaks down, how ever many steps of outsourcing deep that might be.
Unsurprisingly the gangmaster not actually paying his workers is likely the lowest bidder, so in the cruellest sense of the “free” market, every company wants to use slave labour, but to a global business with at least some accountability, this is a massive fuck up in oversight.
This is just apologia for Starbucks’ core capitalist nature.
No? If you restricted your purchasing to people growing coffee in specific areas with a high degree of oversight and frequent audits, this wouldn’t happen. The coffee would cost (them) a lot more, of course, but it’s certainly possible to do this.
The point is an oligarchy could incentivize high worker wages and ethical business practices through lots of mechanisms, the primary one being “pay more money for your supplies.” They don’t. We should be burying all these companies in the grave.