A group of 17 labor unions, human rights organizations and watchdog nonprofits including Coffee Watch are calling on the lifestyle brand Farm Rio to end its partnership with Starbucks or change its policies.

The coffee chain has come under fire this spring for allegations of child labor, trafficking workers and unsafe working conditions on a Brazilian coffee farm. A civil “John Doe” lawsuit was filed against Starbucks in late April in the U.S. by eight individuals with the support of the International Rights Advocates.

A Starbucks spokesperson said Wednesday that the claims asserted are “without merit” and the company plans to “vigorously defend the Starbucks brand.”

Coffee Watch filed a petition under section 307 of the Tariff Act asking U.S. Customs and Border Protection “to block slavery-tainted Brazilian coffee in Starbucks’ supply chains from entering the United States,” according to the letter, which was shared with WWD.

In a statement, the Seattle-based company said, “Starbucks is committed to ethical sourcing of coffee including helping to protect the rights of people who work on the farms where we purchase coffee from,” adding that its Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices include the use of “robust third-party verification and audits.”

Starbucks said it does not purchase coffee from all of the farms within Cooxupé’s cooperative, which includes more than 19,000 coffee farm members. The spokesperson said, “Starbucks purchases coffee from a small fraction of those farms, and only those who have been verified through our C.A.F.E. Practices, which are among the most stringent in the industry and have been continuously improved since their inception in 2004.”

Starbucks and Farm Rio revealed their partnership last month for a limited-edition collection of colorful drinkware and mini cold-cup keychains that launched in the coffee chain’s stores in the U.S. and Canada. They are also being sold in its outposts in Brazil and in select markets in Latin America and in the Caribbean.

On Wednesday, a public relations firm working on behalf of the organizations that have appealed to Farm Rio’s chief executive officer put the word out about their letter. Supporters of the letter are asking that Starbucks sever the partnership immediately or make it contingent on such demands as allowing employees worldwide to unionize and eradicating child labor from every part of its supply chain, ensuring farmworkers receive a living wage and publicly committing to upholding labor rights across its supply chain. The representative for the senders of the letter also provided a link to a video post that was made by the organization Contracs on “X” that shows three protesters holding signs outside of a Farm Rio store in an unidentified shopping center in Brazil.

Representatives at Farm Rio could not be reached for comment Wednesday. An outside public relations company that works with Farm Rio acknowledged a request for comment about the request to end the Starbucks partnership and said it had been shared with Farm Rio, but there was not a response at press time.

Separately, Starbucks has been dealing with pushback from some employees in the U.S. about its new uniform policy. More than 1,000 workers — many of whom are associated with Starbucks Workers United — in 75 locations held a one-day strike in opposition to the mandatory dress code. Workers United is less than 5 percent of Starbucks’ workforce, representing about 570 of its 10,000-plus stores, according to another Starbucks spokesperson. The letter to Farm Rio also noted that a fair contract with unionized workers in the U.S. has not been reached.