Posts Categorized: Environment

Last week, the UFCW signed onto a resolution with the Consumer Federation of America to reaffirm our solidarity with Greenpeace as they fight to reform the tuna industry in Thailand. The resolution seeks to ensure that Thai Union, which is the largest canned tuna company in the world and behind well-known brands like Chicken of the Sea, takes steps to curb human rights and environmental abuses throughout their supply chain.

The tuna industry has been linked to human rights abuses, including the exploitation of migrant workers who are being sold, abducted, trafficked, or coerced onto fishing vessels where they are forced to work for little or no pay, and kept at sea under brutal conditions for long periods of time. In addition to the labor abuse on fishing vessels, the growing demand for cheap seafood has led to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, as well as overfishing.

Last year, the European Union issued Thailand a “yellow card” for failing to address IUU fishing, and the State Department released a report which criticized Thailand for its failure to enact more substantial reforms to end labor trafficking.

The UFCW and Greenpeace are calling on Thai Union and Chicken of the Sea to clean up their supply chains; become fully transparent; ensure workers the freedom of association and the right to join unions; improve fishing practices, and end their reliance on exploited labor and overfishing to make short-term profits.

Walmart was named the top Greenwasher of 2014 by The Green Life environmental group.

Environmental watchdog The Green Life has named Walmart the top Greenwasher of the Year for 2014 for marketing itself with misleading claims of environmental sustainability.

In 2005, Walmart made headlines with big promises to become greener, but nine years later, the world’s largest retailer doesn’t have much to show for it. Walmart promised that it would transition to 100 percent reliance on renewable energy, but today only 4 percent of the electricity Walmart consumes comes from renewable sources. In fact, even the company’s self-reported carbon footprint actually increased by more than 13 percent since it made its commitments to renewables in 2005.

According to Walmart, “It has sometimes been difficult to find and fund low-carbon technologies that meet our ROI (Return on Investment) requirements.”

Meanwhile, despite Walmart’s promises to sell more sustainable products, the company’s supply chain continues to stretch around the world. Transporting consumer goods around the world consumes a huge amount of fuel, meaning that the products on the shelves of a local Walmart come with a massive carbon footprint. On Earth Day, environmental activists all over the U.S. delivered letters to Walmart stores calling on the company to become serious about protecting the climate. A petition protesting the greenwashing at Walmart is available at http://bit.ly/1lQofKl.