Target: Ms. Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo
Goal: End child labor and other egregious labor violations in PepsiCo’s palm oil supply chain.
Child labor at Conflict Palm Oil plantations has been directly linked to Pepsico through a new report by Rainforest Action Network, OPPUK and ILRF. This is not news to PepsiCo, which has continually allowed the use of Conflict Palm Oil in its snack foods and drinks. It’s time for PepsiCo to stop profiting off the backs of children and contributing to the destruction of the last remaining rainforest home of orangutans and Sumatran tigers.
The newly released report, The Human Cost of Conflict Palm Oil: Indofood, PepsiCo’s Hidden Link to Worker Exploitation in Indonesia, details how PepsiCo’s joint venture partner, Indofood is compelling workers to hire children and to bring their spouses to work through an unjust wage system and is subjecting workers to toxic chemicals while denying them fair pay and benefits. Indofood’s exploitation of children and other workers has massive implications – Indofood is one of the largest growers of palm oil in the world as well as Indonesia’s largest food company. PepsiCo relies solely on Indofood for production of PepsiCo products sold in Indonesia.
Rainforest Action Network has succeeded in getting 12 of the 20 worst Conflict Palm Oil snack food offenders, known as the Snack Food 20, to change their unethical and destructive sourcing policies by using a variety of tactics, including petition deliveries. Stand in solidarity with palm oil workers, many of which are children, as we continue to demand that PepsiCo require its suppliers and partners to uphold the rights of all palm oil workers by adding your name this petition. We’ve moved companies from these egregious practices before, and we can do it again with your help.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Indra Nooyi,
Your company, PepsiCo, in partnership with Indofood, is profiting off of the backs of laboring children and exploited workers. Indofood’s workers are exposed to toxic chemicals without proper protection, paid unethically low wages, and often denied full time employment, while PepsiCo and Indofood make billions.
How low will you go to to maintain your bottom line?
In addition to these egregious labor violations, Conflict Palm Oil is also a driver of massive destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests — one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and home to orangutans and Sumatran tigers.
Many years have passed as PepsiCo has refused to meaningfully address its Conflict Palm Oil problem. Each and every year, month, day, and hour that passes, your inaction allows another child to be exploited, another worker to be poisoned, and another vast swath of rainforest habitat to be destroyed.
Please, do what is right – don’t allow another day of child labor to exist within your profit margin. Create and enforce a responsible palm oil policy that ensures workers’ rights are upheld and rainforests are kept standing and hold your suppliers and partners to the same standard.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
