In a landmark legal action, plaintiff Megan Waggener Van Meter’s class action lawsuit against Mondelez International Inc. sheds light on the dark underbelly of child labor in global supply chains.
Call for accountability
The lawsuit, as published by Top Class Actions, exposes allegations of child labor and slavery perpetuated by the snack food giant, challenging its claims of sustainability while profiting from practices that exploit vulnerable populations. Filed in California federal court, it underscores the urgent need for accountability and transparency within multinational corporations to combat the pervasive issue of child labor and modern slavery.
Mondelez reportedly earned more than $31 billion in revenue in 2022, and some of its most popular products include Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Clif Bars and Toblerone. However, the Mondelez class action lawsuit alleges the company profits by paying local cocoa farmers as little as $3 per day, causing them to resort to child labor and child slavery.
Misleading claims by Mondelez
The Mondelez class action lawsuit unveils a disturbing reality of mislabeling and deceptive marketing tactics to conceal the company’s complicity in unethical labor practices. Despite generating billions in revenue, Mondelez allegedly pays cocoa farmers meager wages, leading to reliance on child labor and slavery in its supply chain.
“Mondelez knows its practices perpetuate child labor and child slavery, yet it nonetheless slaps phony ‘seals’ on its products claiming its cocoa is ‘100% sustainable,’ ‘certified,’ or claiming that it ‘supports’ or ‘helps’ farmers when it knows the opposite is true.” – Megan Waggener Van Meters
The lawsuit highlights the discrepancy between the company’s assertions of sustainability and the harsh realities workers face, emphasizing the critical role of consumer awareness and regulatory intervention in holding corporations accountable for their actions.
We demand transparency!
It is incomprehensible to us how a major company like Mondelez relies on child labor and modern slavery to increase revenues – and then dares to lie about it. We demand they be held accountable and boost transparency!
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Last year I contacted Mondelez and told them I would stop buying their products until I could have proof that they are not using slave labour. They answered they had invested $1B in their program since 2012, aimed at 300,000 cocoa farmers. That’s about $25 a month per farmer. Other companies sent similar messages, or ignored my emails, or were so hard to contact I gave up. So I have stopped eating chocolate.
The dark side of multinational corporations. Never held truly accountable by governments. The NABISCO legacy is tarnished by the sins of Mondelez.
8 cents an hour? How utterly disgusting. YES…that is slavery! At least many slaves were given a place to live and food to eat. There poor children get nothing, if I may put it that way. What Mondelez does is criminal, and they know it! I hope that they are punished, at least for using child labor, and then
by paying their workers a decent living wage.