Paul Michaels, President M&M/Mars Inc. 6885 Elm St. McLean, VA 22101

June 18, 2002

Dear Mr. Michaels,

We, the undersigned organizations, represent a diverse group of churches, unions, student and consumer groups, environmental and economic justice organizations, and others who are concerned about the wages and living conditions of cocoa farmers and workers.  We are writing today to urge you to purchase cocoa that is Fair Trade Certified.  We believe that Fair Trade certification is the best way for you to ensure that child slavery and poverty are no longer facts of life on cocoa farms.

As you certainly know, several recent reports have revealed the existence of child slave labor in the cocoa industry. The reemergence of child slavery can be blamed, in part, on low prices in the cocoa industry over the last ten years. At present, cocoa farmers receive about 1 cent for a regular candy bar.  As a result of insufficient revenues, cocoa growers have been forced to cut their labor costs, and tragically many of them have turned to using slave labor. While low cocoa prices mean lower raw materials costs and hence more profit for M&M/Mars, for cocoa farmers and workers, the results have been tragic.

Although slavery is the most prominent and egregious labor rights violation, we join with the Child Labor Coalition, Free the Slaves, and the International Union of Foodworkers in supporting the need to not only to eliminate child slavery, but to ensure that all International Labor Organization conventions are enforced, starting with Conventions 182 (the worst forms of child labor) and 29 (forced labor).

We are aware that this past year M&M/Mars, along with other members of the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and the World Cocoa Foundation, agreed to take steps to eliminate child slavery and work toward enforcement of ILO conventions by releasing a Protocol and Joint Statement. This is a positive development.  However, it does nothing to correct the low world cocoa prices that are a root cause of exploitative labor practices. Solutions to the current crisis must include ensuring that farmers are paid a fair price for their harvest.

Surely, most of your customers would be outraged to learn that the sweetness of their favorite chocolate is tainted with the bitterness of slavery and worker exploitation.

Fortunately there is one solution available to the chocolate industry now that would guarantee that its chocolate is produced fairly and without exploitation: Fair Trade. The Fair Trade system corrects market imbalances by guaranteeing a minimum price for small farmers¹ harvests and prohibits the worst forms of child labor and forced labor.  Your Protocol states that ³we also share the view that practices in violation of ILO Conventions 182 and 29 result from poverty and a complex set of social and economic conditions often faced by small family farmers and agricultural workers, and that effective solutions to address these violations must include action by appropriate parties to improve overall labor standards and access to education.² Only when cocoa producers are paid such a fair and stable income will they be able to rise above poverty, experience permanent improvements in overall labor standards, and have the resources to feed their families and keep their children in school.

To find out how you can purchase cocoa that has been produced according to Fair Trade criteria, contact TransFair USA at (510) 663.5260.  TransFair USA already certifies over 120 companies in the U.S. that market Fair Trade coffee and tea, and has the capacity to certify chocolate companies such as M&M/Mars.

Although Fair Trade Certified cocoa products are widely available in Europe, no U.S. companies have yet taken advantage of this opportunity. Fair Trade cooperatives produce cocoa in Ghana, Cameroon, Brazil, Nicaragua, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Costa Rica.  Last year, cooperatives in these countries produced 89 million pounds of cocoa, yet only 3 million pounds of it was sold at Fair Trade prices.  Clearly there is sufficient supply for expanding the Fair Trade cocoa market to companies that offer quality chocolate products such as M&M/Mars. Fair Trade also specifies that producers must be small farmers. Given that 90% of all cocoa worldwide is produced by small farmers who own 12 acres or less, Fair Trade could certainly be a reality for the majority of the world¹s cocoa producers, if only companies like M&M/Mars would buy Fair Trade cocoa.

We believe that M&M/Mars, as a leader of the $13 billion chocolate industry, has the responsibility to ensure that its principal product, chocolate, is produced under fair labor conditions.  It is clear that you have the resources to do so, given that M&M/Mars is the 4th largest private company in the U.S., controls almost 17% of the total U.S. chocolate market, and garnered an estimated $15.5 billion in revenues last year.

Thus, we, the undersigned organizations, call on you to commit to purchasing a minimum of at least five percent of your cocoa as Fair Trade Certified, to be independently verified and monitored, according to international standards, by TransFair USA.

Thank you for your consideration.  We request that you reply promptly with a specific plan introducing Fair Trade Certified chocolate. Until you agree to offer a Fair Trade price for your cocoa, the sweetness of your chocolate will be ruined because the cocoa producers - whose work is so central to M&M/Mars¹ business - will continue to face bitter hardships.

No matter what the shade, make our M&M's Fair Trade.

Sincerely,

Greater Kansas City Fair Trade Coalition, 50 Years Is Enough! Network Action for Communities & the Environment in the Central American Region (ACERCA) ACT UP Philadelphia Action NOW! Africa Action Africa Alive Africa Faith & Justice Network Agricultural Missions, Inc (National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA) Aid Through Trade Alabama Fair Trade Coalition Alliance for Democracy, Santa Cruz, CA Alliance for Responsible Trade Alliance for Sustainable Jobs & the Environment American Anti-Slavery Group American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice American Postal Workers Union, Miami Area, AFL-CIO Amnesty International USA Anti-Slavery International Arise for Social Justice Association of Concerned Africa Scholars Bay Area Burma Roundtable Bicycle for Everyone's Earth Black Radical Congress Border Agricultural Workers Center (Centro de los Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos) Boreal Footprint Project Buddhist Peace Fellowship California Fair Trade Campaign California Fair Trade Coalition California Peace Action California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. Call To Action Campaign for Labor Rights Campus Greens at UCSD Campus Labor Action Coalition, University of California Santa Barbara Casa Maria Catholic Worker Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network CAUSA (Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition) Center for Economic Justice Center for International Policy Center for Reflection, Education & Action Center for Third World Organizing Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America Church of the Brethren Church Women United Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana Citizen Works Coalition for a Humane Economy Coalition of Immokalee Workers Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) Committee to Free Lori Berenson Community Alliance for Global Justice Congregation of St. Agnes Consumers Against Food Engineering Co-op America Corporate Agribusiness Research Project CorpWatch Crafts Center Daily Acts Daughters of Mary and Joseph Democratizing the Global Economy Project (American Friends Service Committee) Development Gap Dominican Sisters of San Rafael Duke University Student Action with Farmworkers Earth Island Institute Earth Ministry Earth Rights Institute Ecology Center Ecumenical Program on Central America & the Caribbean Edmonds Institute Educate for Justice Ella Baker Center for Human Rights Équiterre Fair Trade Federation Fair Trade Resource Network Farm Labor Organizing Committee Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc. Fellowship of Reconciliation, Seattle Area Free the Planet! Free the Slaves Fresno County Green Party Friends of the Earth Global Economy Working Group, Church Council of Greater Seattle Global Exchange Global Response Environmental Action & Education Network Grassroots Globalization Network Grassroots International Green Party of San Francisco Guatemala Human Rights Commission USA Haiti Reborn Hawai'i Sustainable Lifestyle Network Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC Human Rights Action Service Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy Inter Religious Task Force on Central America Intercommunity Justice & Peace Center Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility Interhemispheric Resource Center International Development Exchange International Forum on Globalization International Labor Rights Fund International Longshore and Warehouse Union JAMBO International Center Jeannette Rankin Peace Center Jobs with Justice, New York JustAct La Siembra Cooperative Leicester Advocating Fair Trade Los Angeles Leadership Academy Marin Interfaith Task Force on Central America Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns Maryland United for Peace and Justice Methodist Federation for Social Action Mexico Solidarity Network Missionary Sisters - Our Lady of Africa Missouri Rural Crisis Center National Campus Greens National Family Farm Coalition National Labor Committee Native Forest Network New England Guatemalan Alliance New York State Labor-Religion Coalition Nicaragua Center for Community Action Nicaragua Network Northwest Labor and Employment Law Office Office of Religious Life, Mount Holyoke College Organic Consumers Association Our Developing World Oxfam America Pax Christi USA Pax Christi - Michigan Pax Christi - St Gabriel Pax Christi - St. Louis University PCUN/Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United PeaceWorks Peninsula Peace and Justice Center Pennsylvania Fair Trade Coalition Pennsylvania State University Eco-action Pesticide Action Network North America Power Shift Progressive Jewish Alliance Project Concern International Public Citizen¹s Global Trade Watch Rainbow Churches and Beehive School Rainforest Action Network Resource Center for Non-Violence Resource Center of the Americas Rights Action Ruckus Society RUGMARK Foundation USA Rural Coalition/Coalición Rural Rural Training Research Center (Federation of Southern Cooperatives) Sacramentans for International Labor Rights Sacramento Activists for Democratic Trade Sacred Heart OFM Province Peace and Justice San Jose Peace Center Santa Clara County Green Party Santa Clarans for Fair Trade Save the Children Canada Save the Redwoods & Boycott the Gap Campaign Seattle Burma Roundtable Sexto Sol Center for Community Action Sinitesa Foundation Sisters of Charity, BVM, The Women's Office Sisters of the Holy Names Justice & Peace Committee Society of African Missions, Office of Justice and Peace Society of Missionaries of Africa, North American Province, Justice and Peace Office Society of St. Ursula Songbird Foundation South (Alameda) County Peace & Justice Coalition Southern California Fair Trade Network StanFair:  Stanford Students for Fair Trade Student Action with Farmworkers Student Coalition for Global Solidarity Students Transforming and Resisting Corporations Tennessee Industrial Renewal Network Texas Fair Trade Coalition Tikkun Magazine TransAfrica Forum Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America United Farm Workers Washington State United for a Fair Economy United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society United Steelworkers of America Local 1227 Vassar College Amnesty International Vassar College Student Activist Union Washington Office on Africa Washington Peace Center Washington State Africa Network West Africa Rainforest Network Western Massachusetts Global Action Coalition Western Michigan University Peace Center Wisconsin Fair Trade Campaign Witness for Peace South East Region Witness for Peace Southwest Women¹s EDGE Women¹s International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section World Neighbors Youth for Environmental Sanity