Fair Trade USA Coffee Plantation Certification: Ramifications for Workers in Nicaragua

Motivation: Certification programmes shape global coffee production
conditions. Fairtrade International oversees the major ethical coffee certification
for small farmers. Since Fair Trade USA left the global system
to certify coffee plantations in 2011 and now has its own standards,
programme-specific research is needed to understand the implications of
certification for workers.
Purpose: We provide the first academic analysis of Fair Trade USA’s coffee
plantation certification to identify its key programmatic features and
ramifications for workers, particularly how certification has affected workplace
and employment conditions, workers’ wellbeing and labour rights.
Approach and methods: We analyse programme documents to explain
Fair Trade USA’s standards and how they diverge from those of Fairtrade
International. To demonstrate the impacts of Fair Trade USA certification,
we draw on qualitative research on one of the first certified coffee plantations
in Nicaragua, including interviews with managers and interviews and
focus group discussions with workers.
Findings: Fair Trade USA has maintained key elements of Fairtrade
International certification, but its labour rights standards are significantly
weaker. In the Nicaraguan case, Fair Trade USA certification has fostered
major improvements in workplace and employment conditions and some
improvements in workers’ wellbeing through the Premium programme.
Certification has not significantly advanced labour rights.
Policy implications: National conditions shape certification’s implications
for workers, creating a central paradox. Fair Trade USA certification
is likely to bring the greatest gains for workers where conditions are
worst, where bringing plantations into legal compliance is a victory. The
programme cannot pull workers out of poverty or guarantee decent work.