Fair Trade Benefits All Workers
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
November 30, 2003
Larry Landry
In recent years, it has become apparent that the
new system of globalization and free trade has too
often degenerated into one of crude exploitation of
people and the environment in the developing world.
Workers typically make scandalously low wages and
work long hours under unhealthy, demeaning conditions,
all in a political climate that makes it impossible,
even dangerous, for them to organize to improve their
lot.
Poor countries are locked in a vicious Catch-22 situation,
what has been dubbed the "global race to the
bottom" because they must use low wages, cheap
natural resources and lax environmental standards
to compete for foreign investment.
Three examples:
* Haitian workers get paid 9 cents in labor for sewing
a Disney sweatshirt that sells for $25.
* The United Nations has documented that wages for
unskilled workers have dropped 20 percent to 30 percent
in developing countries that open themselves to the
free-trade system, a trend that is worsening with
China's entry into the World Trade Organization.
* When workers in a U.S. factory in Nicaragua tried
to organize, the company fired them. When that was
exposed in the U.S., the company moved to an Asian
country where labor unions are prohibited.
As one writer noted, when you see a really good deal
in the store, it is almost certainly the result of
overseas sweatshop conditions. It is an unfortunate
but inescapable fact that the cheap consumer goods
we buy are the last link in a chain that is based
on the poverty of people who do not have the means
or education to climb out of their misery.
For those who scoff at this proposition, consider
the myriad corporate scandals that have been exposed
in the last year. If corporate leaders are willing
to lie and defraud their own employees and investors
in order to enrich themselves, how do you think they
will treat a bunch of helpless Third World peasants?
Happily, there is a developing alternative for those
who care about the broader implications of their purchasing:
fair trade.
Fair trade is based on a business model that puts
workers and the environment first, not last. Fair-trade
businesses buy from producers that are committed to
the following criteria in their relationships with
farmers and workers:
* Cooperative and healthy workplaces that provide
workers with a large degree of self-determination.
* Pay a "living wage," i.e., one that ensures
that workers are paid enough to meet their basic daily
living needs.
* Environmental sustainability.
* Respect for cultural identity.
*Transparency and public accountability in their
trading relationships.
This is more than a politically correct marketing
strategy. It really works. For example, millions of
small- to medium-scale coffee growers all over the
world have been devastated by plummeting prices in
the last couple of years; fair trade farmers are thriving.
Fair-trade concepts hold the promise of transforming
globalization into a force that benefits the mass
of humanity, not just the rich.
Because these businesses pay higher wages and because
these goods are produced on a human rather than a
massive corporate scale, they are somewhat more expensive.
Most Fairbanksans can afford it. This holiday season,
why not buy gifts that benefit those who make as well
as those who receive them?
At this time, fair trade is a fledgling movement
that is focused on coffee and chocolate.
Both products are available at Fred Meyer stores.
Fair-trade coffee is sold at the Alaska Coffee Roasting
Co. on Geist Road. Clothing and jewelry boutiques
such as The Magic Carpet and the Brasil Nuts have
unofficially been practicing fair trade for years.
If you are interested in more information on this
topic, see www.coopamerica.org. Coop America is an
excellent nonprofit at the forefront of fair trade,
"green consumerism" and socially responsible
investing.
Larry Landry lives in Fairbanks.
Source: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/1299.html
