Starbucks workers in Brazil face ‘slave-like’ conditions while harvesting coffee: Lawsuit

Farm workers in Brazil claim they were subjected to “slave-like” conditions while harvesting coffee for Starbucks, accusing the global beverage giant in a lawsuit of human trafficking, child slavery and forced labor.

The group International Rights Advocates filed the class action lawsuit Thursday in Washington DC Federal Court on behalf of eight of the workers.

Conditions were so bad and there was so little training on the dangerous machinery involved in coffee harvesting, at least two workers died from accidents and there were at least nine amputations, according to the group and the lawsuit.

They spent grueling hours harvesting coffee from 5 a.m. to dusk and once went 40 days without being paid, they said in the lawsuit. None were registered as employees or given contracts, they claimed.

Starbucks is the largest coffee chain in the world. Getty Images

They were required to pay for the harvesting machines and blowers, as well as the gas, oil and maintenance costs of the machines, leaving them trapped in debt, they said in court papers.

Those who tried to leave or report the abuses allegedly faced severe threats.

“A man arrived and threatened us with a gun, saying ‘you’re not going.’ He took our papers and we had to stay,” one anonymous worker said in a news release from the advocacy group.

“Americans are paying $7 for a latte harvested by workers who can’t even leave their jobs,” said
Terry Collingsworth, International Rights Advocates founder and lead attorney for the workers.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and a court order barring Starbucks from retaliating against the workers for speaking out.

Starbucks is being sued in US court by Brazilian coffee plant workers for “slave-like” conditions. Getty Images

“At a time when Americans are feeling the pinch of inflation, they deserve to know that corporations charging premium prices are profiting from human suffering.”

Brazil is the world’s leading coffee producer, supplying nearly half the world’s Arabica beans, and is essential to Starbucks’ supply chain.

Starbucks Workers United, the union representing Starbucks workers in the US, said “this is yet another example of Starbucks saying one thing and doing another.”

In a statement, the company said the claims were without merit and it plans to vigorously defend them.

“Starbucks has a long-standing commitment to ethical sourcing and the well-being of coffee farmers and workers,” said Michelle Burns, Executive Vice President of Global Coffee & Sustainability.