Starting their day with ‘a cup of kindness’
By SHERRY HALBROOK
What if making the world a better place
was as easy as drinking a cup of coffee? It is; Just ask the approximately 850
members of PEF Division 169 who work in Albany. They are now drinking “Fair Trade”
coffee thanks to Vinny DiTrapano of Vinny’s Cafe at 625 Broadway in Albany, home of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation main office. The members pay a nickel more to
drink a cup of coffee that’s changing the lives of farmers and their communities far away. At the members’ request, DiTrapano
switched from one Green Mountain Coffee blend to another that uses Fair-Trade- certified beans. The Fair Trade Project of the Labor-
Religion Coalition educates the public about how Fair Trade links the consumers of high quality Fair Trade products such as coffee, chocolate and tea with the farmers in Third World countries who produce them and ensures the producers receive a fair price and living wage. No forced or child labor is allowed.
Environmentally sustainable production and safe, healthy working conditions are used. Women’s work is properly valued and rewarded, and the farmers can count on long-term markets and fair prices. “I had no idea what Fair Trade coffee
was, but I’ve learned it’s a more humane way to harvest the coffee,” DiTrapano said. Still, he worried customers might not
like the coffee or might balk at paying the extra five cents. “I was concerned,” DiTrapano said, “but
sales have been steady.” “In the past year, Vinny went green,
switching from styrofoam to paper cups and making other changes,” said PEF Executive Board member Karl Berger of Division 169. Last fall, Susan DuBois, a former
Division 169 steward and a supporter of the Labor-Religion Coalition, suggested to Berger they invite Fair Trade Coordinator Anne Kelly to speak at a division meeting. “The members were wonderfully
receptive,” Kelly said. “We’re thrilled with their commitment to social issues. Fair Trade issues, like union issues, are really human rights issues. “Fair Trade stabilizes producers’
incomes and helps them get pre-harvest loans,” she said. The farmers create co-ops that invest in
roads, schools and clean water. They gain political power and respect, and their children are freed from unending labor to go to school.
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The Communicator May 2010—Page 19
MORETHANA DRINK—PEF Division 169 stewards Holly Clark and Rob McDonough get their coffee fromVinny DiTrapano atVinny’s Cafe at 625 Broadway inAlbany.
—Photo by Sue Shafer
“I visited a cacao (beans ground to make
cocoa for chocolate) co-op in the Dominican Republic,” Kelly said, “that has transformed the community and totally transformed the industry. It started with 700 farmers and now has 9,000.” The Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in West
Africa is the world’s largest supplier of cocoa. But young men and boys are
trafficked and brutalized as slave labor among the cacao and cotton plantations. “Switching to Fair Trade products is
something well worth checking into,” DuBois said. “It’s become practical, and it’s not that difficult.” For more information, go online to
www.labor-religion.org or call (800) 342- 9810, ext. 6294.
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