Netherlands: large chocolate producers and retailers commit, with FNV, in favor of “sustainable chocolate”

FNV and Allies general secretary Henk van der Kolk launched this unprecedented initiative, in the form of a “memorandum of understanding” (MoU). This document, which wants Dutch people to only consummate “sustainable” chocolate in 15 years, was signed by Gerda Verburg, Minister for Agriculture and Food Safety, several NGOs (Oxfam Novib, Solidaridad, Superunie) and, most importantly, large businesses in the cocoa trade in the Netherlands. The signatories include the multinational Unilever, the milk products Campina, the Association of bakers and pastry-cooks (Vereniging voor Bakkerijen en Zoetwaren, VBZ), the Albert Heijn supermarket chain, the Kruidvat et Hema, Oram, Jamin, Mars, De Baronie and Max Havelaar stores, not mentioning the Port of Amsterdam. The FNV and Allies’ goal may seem ambitious, since it wants the entire cocoa chain, from plantations to retailers, to be sustainable in 15 years. The union demands “honest wages” in plantations, “normal” working conditions and job security at all levels, in orchards, transformation factories, transporters and suppliers. The commitment isn’t neutral: large producers committed to buy a minimum of half their broad beans from “sustainable” suppliers by 2015, and 100% of them in 2025. This initiative is, among other things, aimed at ending forced and child labor in cocoa plantations in Cote d’Ivoire, a practice denounced for years, with the support of documents, by Teun van der Keuken, TV host. He set the example, launching the “sustainable” chocolate bar – Tony Chocolonely – in 2006. This product, more expensive but “cleaner” than its rivals, was commercially successful.