The article repeatedly lumps Rainforest Alliance and Fair Trade together, but they are not the same at all, and I didn't see any examples of inspection failures for Fair Trade.
To be certified for Fair Trade, the producers must be a cooperative. That is relatively easy to check and it means that there is no-one to impose harsh conditions on the workers.
OK, I missed that one, but it is also slightly strange, right? Since neither Lipton nor Twinings use the Fairtrade mark, why do they have it? Who else do they supply?
Still, I have to accept that Fairtrade International didn't reply "no, that isn't one of ours" when asked for comment.