Morrisons go it alone

Despite the long absence, this piece of recent news from Henry McDonald at the Guardian the exited us so much that we just had to post.

Morrisson’s the supermarket are the first UK based company to sign up to a new scheme called Fair Working Conditions, a very long overdue system set up to provide companies with an independent audit of their suppliers – much like I assume a broader version of FairTrade certification.

Provoked by a recent comment on our Pentland post, once again at Responsable we have been lamenting the inability of the consumer to validate ethical claims made by individual companies, having a sense that surely we would not have to wait too much longer for an independent auditting company to come to the marketplace. Well, maybe, finally, it is here.  We’re routing for you FWC, here’s hoping you get many more sign-ups.

Black Gold

On the rejesus blog there is a review of Black Gold. It is a documentary film by Nick and Marc Francis that looks at the coffee bean industry, or more particularly its effect in Ethiopia. We haven’t see the film ourselves yet, other than the trailer:

The coffee industry, like others we have mentioned here, is beset with social responsibility issues. Many of these have come into the public spotlight, receiving more attention than other industries. As a result of this public attention and consumer demand, people are responding. There are now a number of ethical coffee suppliers, including companies like our friends at Eve Coffee.

Think before you drink… You have a choice.