Tea company replies

These are replies from tea companies plus comments from campaigners in red.

 1. TETLEYS

Dear Bill

Thanks for your email which provides an opportunity for us to explain our approach to ethical tea sourcing.

We are totally aware of our responsibilities to the people who grow and pick our tea. Our Tea Buying team develop long-term trading relationships with suppliers, contracting forward where possible and paying a fair price for each type of tea. In which case, why not get the Fairtrade logo to say so? Since they haven’t, they are presumably trying to pull the wool over our eyes too.

Alongside this, Tetley was a founder member of the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) back in 1997. The ETP is a non-commercial alliance of international tea companies with the aim of a thriving global tea industry which is socially just and environmentally sustainable. Two senior Tetley staff, the Director of Tea Buying and the Director of Sustainability, sit on the ETP Board, so Tetley continues to play a leading role in its development. This includes helping shape the new ETP strategy putting producer needs higher on the agenda to a far greater extent than ever before. If you are not aware of the work of the ETP, you may like to visit their website www.ethicalteapartnership.org  and look at the publication ‘Enabling change across the tea sector’ which shows the contribution the ETP is making to the tea industry.

The Tata Tea group (of which Tetley is part) is placing sustainability at its core; in addition to ethical sourcing this will see us invest in global climate change management, better water management, and packaging management programmes which directly or indirectly will all benefit producers in tea growing regions.
Looking at Fairtrade certification for Tetley branded teas we listen to what our Tetley consumers tell us and, over the last year, this shows that they are totally aligned with our approach to this important issue. We will continue to move our understanding of Tetley consumers forward to ensure we maintain a viable business model for mainstream tea that is attuned to their needs. It’s gobbledy-gook. I think it means “We’ve managed to pull the wool over our customers’ eyes so successfully that they think we’re being ethical”. Or maybe “All our ethical customers have deserted us anyway so we’re catering for the rest”!

As part of our range we also offer Good Earth Organic Fairtrade tea bags. So, we believe we are helping to create a global tea sector that is environmentally sound and socially just.

Kind regards

Tetley GB Consumer Services

I received the same reply from Tetley. Not a whisper of the dispute that
was the subject of a petition before Christmas -
http://asianfoodwor ker.net/? p=769
http://www.iuf. org/cgi-bin/ dbman/db. cgi?db=default& uid=default&&view_
records=1&en= 1

Obviously there are complex issues involved, but this seems to be a lockoutwith the workforce as a whole being pressurised by Tata in order to resolvethe dispute. Not exactly ethical and Tata/Tetley appear to be violating ILO conventions.

Unfortunately there isn’t an update on the current status of the dispute.

All the best

Owen

As someone who works in marketing, I think I can decipher the cryptic code used by Tetleys. My interpretation of it is…ade.org.uk

When they say:”we listen to what our Tetley consumers tell us and, over the last year, this shows that they are totally aligned with our approach to this important issue”
What they mean is:
“We aren’t bothered about Fairtrade and neither are Tetley drinkers”

When they say:
“We will continue to move our understanding of Tetley consumers forward to ensure we maintain a viable business model for mainstream tea that is attuned to their needs.”
What they mean is:
“When enough Tetley drinkers tell us they’re bothered, then magically we’ll suddenly become passionate about it as well.”

The good news is that if enough people tell them that they’re bothered then they’re likely to look more seriously at Fairtrade.

This differs quite a bit from the likes of Yorkshire Tea and Twinings who basically feel that they’re already doing better than Fairtrade through ETP and Rainforest alliance. For them, the message needs to be that people need to see the guarantee of the Fairtrade Mark to be convinced.

Anyway, let’s circulate this to as many as possible and convince them!

Cheers,
Stuart

www.ashbournefairtr

FROM YORKSHIRE TEA

Thank you for contacting us after reading about Traidcraft’s ‘Make it Fair’ campaign.

Like you, we’re passionate about ethical trade. You might not know but Taylors of Harrogate is a family business, which gives us the happy freedom to think and act differently to most. We have very strong values and believe in supporting the communities that grow our tea by both trading fairly and protecting the environment.

We respect the Fairtrade Foundation and the work they’ve done to highlight the need for ethical trade – indeed many of our coffees are Fairtrade certified. But we also believe that improving social and environmental standards for growers needs many different approaches. For Yorkshire Tea our approach is as follows:

• We pay fair, sustainable prices for quality teas: we always pay top prices for premium teas, rather than market rate. We also pay premiums to smallholder farmers to reward their efforts.  Last year, the prices we paid for Yorkshire Tea were, on average, 70% above the Fairtrade minimum price.  . They seem to be saying they’re doing even more than FT: “Last year, the prices we paid for Yorkshire Tea were, on average, 70% above the Fairtrade minimum price”. Of course that might be because market prices happened to be high – does anybody know?

• We build long term, direct relationships: we work directly with estates, giving them security for the future. Through the Ethical Tea Partnership we’re implementing direct support projects for our growers.
• We help our suppliers improve working and environmental standards: Yorkshire Tea carries the Rainforest Alliance certified seal which, like Fairtrade, is only awarded to farmers and growers with good social and environmental standards. In the last year alone we’ve also started to offer pre-finance to growers who lack access to local sources of credit, and we’re match funding a substantial grant from the Department of International Development to improve tea quality and living standards for over 10,000 growers in Rwanda.

We’re also committed to protecting the environment and fighting changing climate which will affect developing countries first and foremost. Over the last 20 years, thanks to our Trees for Life campaign, we’ve funded the planting of 3 million trees, building communities and improving lives in tea and coffee growing countries. And now, with an acre of rainforest destroyed every second of every day, we’ve pledged to save an area of rainforest the size of Yorkshire.

Thank you once again for contacting us. I do hope we’ve been able to reassure you that our family business trades ethically and fairly, but if you have any specific questions or would like any more information please email me at ethical.trading@ bettysandtaylors .co.uk

Cristina

Ethical Trading Manager

Am I right in thinking that the crucial difference between the Ethical Tea Partnership and the Fairtrade system is that the ETP is internal to the industry and run by the tea companies themselves, in contrast to Fairtrade certification which is independently monitored and can therefore be seen to be objective and impartial?

Rick

Hi Rick,nership.org) , the emphasis of the Ethical Tea Partnership is on improving the working conditions of tea producers, whereas the emphasis of Fairtrade is on ensuring that workers get a fair price for their products, but there is clearly an overlap between the two. The Ethical Tea Partnership also seems to have an independent auditing system which it is very keen to publicise, and which looks as though it may have been set up to compete with Fairtrade.”

That’s my basic understanding too.

I’m trying to find an email I sent to East Midlands Trains when they switched to Twinings tea from Fairtrade – will post it if I find it!

In a post a little while ago Sian from Canterbury described her understanding as being:
“Judging from its website (www.ethicalteapart

Stuart

Found the summary that I wrote for the MD of East Midlands Trains…

In terms of ethics, each scheme has its own focus. As I understand it, the main options you have as regards “ethical” tea and coffee are:
Fairtrade – is focussed on guaranteeing a fair price to producers with an additional premium for community development. Environmental issues are a part of the certification process.
Rainforest Alliance – is focussed on issues of sustainability. Its seal guarantees that the goods were produced in compliance with schemes that will protect the environment, wildlife, workers and local communities.
Organic (Soil Association) – restricts use of artificial chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Fairly limited in scope, but very widely recognised.
Ethical Tea Partnership – focussed on monitoring living and working life on tea estates. They check six key areas: Employment (including minimum age and wage levels), Education, Maternity, Health & Safety, Housing and some areas of Basic Rights. Note that this does not cover environmental concerns nor the actual pay received by the workers.

In particular I would be concerned by the independence of the Ethical Tea Partnership, which is funded directly by many of the tea packing companies in order to address concerns about ethics – but whose programme of monitoring is limited to what I would consider to be very basic rights (eg. health and safety at work).

The key for me is getting a good balance. It is, of course, possible to buy tea and coffee which meets multiple certification schemes and some producers offer a selection of options. While Rainforest Alliance certification on Kenco is laudable, it is limited in its protection of producers’ right to earn a decent wage – focussed as it is on protecting the environment. You also need to bear in mind that not all of Kenco’s coffee is Rainforest Alliance certified – a significant proportion of their coffee beans come from farms where the appropriate environmental safeguards are not yet in place.

You also need to bear in mind consumer awareness of the differing schemes. I know Fairtrade is very widely recognised and understood by consumers, and I’m sure the same is true of Organic certification. Rainforest Alliance is relatively new, but increasingly used (perhaps because it interferes less with the economics of trade, making it more accessible to large-scale producers like Kenco). While I know you will be keen to be ethical because it’s “the right thing to do”, I’m sure you’d also like your customers to recognise what you’re doing so awareness of the schemes you choose is quite important.