Coffee Worker Justice Project

The Justice for Coffee Workers Project supports the basic rights of and economic justice for coffee workers.

USLEAP's primary initiative in this area has been a successful campaign to persuade Starbucks to agree to adopt and begin implementing a code of conduct for coffee growers, the first code of conduct for a major U.S. coffee company. Starbucks first agreed to adopt a code in 1995.
In 2001, Starbucks adopted new sourcing guidelines based on an incentive system that commits Starbucks to reward "preferred suppliers" financially if they meet key "sustainability" criteria. Starbucks prepared another set of revised guidelines in 2004, known as C.A.F.E. USLEAP believes that the current approach of Starbucks has a number of positive aspects but falls short in other areas.

USLEAP has unsuccessfully pressed Starbucks to begin documenting the impact of its sourcing practices on the lives of coffee workers.