Walmart Won’t Buy Cosan Sugar Amid Slavery Blacklist

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-08/wal-mart-brazil-unit-suspends-contract-to-buy-from-cosan.html

January 08, 2010, 05:30 PM EST

By Helder Marinho and Lucia Kassai

Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s biggest retailer, suspended a supply contract with Cosan SA Industria & Comercio after the Brazilian sugar maker was added to a government slavery “blacklist.” Cosan said it won an injunction ordering it be removed from the list.

Walmart is the first retailer to come out with sanctions against Cosan after the sugar producer was added Dec. 31 to a Brazilian Labor Ministry’s list of companies whose workers operate in slave-like conditions. Walmart’s local unit said it temporarily suspended purchases of Cosan’s Acucar Uniao and Acucar da Barra sugar brands.

Walmart “vehemently repudiates any practice that does not respect human rights,” the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said in a statement.

Walmart’s move follows a decision by Brazil’s national development bank BNDES to cut off Cosan from financing. The inclusion on the blacklist means Cosan isn’t eligible for new loans and won’t receive future installments of agreed-to financing, BNDES said yesterday in a statement.



‘Mistake’



Cosan climbed today in Sao Paulo trading after Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes called the company’s inclusion a “mistake.” Cosan rose 0.9 percent to 23.67 reais, after earlier increasing as much as 3.5 percent.

FULL story at link.

[enlightenment]

1. Interesting.

Walmart “vehemently repudiates any practice that does not respect human rights,” the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said in a statement.

I am surprised that making that statement did not cause the spokesperson's head to explode . . .

[dkf]

2. My cynical side thinks they did it because the loan problem might jeopardize operations

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. When did Wal-Mart start worrying about workers who "work in slave-like conditions"?

[greennina]

4. That's their public statement

In real-life I'm sure Wal-Mart is contracting with this company to buy even more of their products and require worker conditions to be made substantually worse. When I worked for Sara Lee and our plant started selling products to Wal-Mart, they required our legally-required breaks be taken from us and for us to be no longer paid for some of our time at work. Wal-Mart is to slavery what gum is to bubblegum.