The good
deed of the day: Buy fairtrade products it ensures producers good working
conditions!
According
to Fairtrades website, the organization is a form of international trade which
is based on a partnership between partner and consumer. The partnership offers
producers better deals and improved terms and conditions of trade. According to
Fairtrade it gives producers an opportunity improve their lives but also it’s a
way to offer consumers a powerful way to reduce poverty through every day
shopping. Fairtrade marked products
means that the producing process and traders have met Fairtrade standards which
are thought to balance the power in trading relationships, unstable markets and
the injustices of conventional trade. This is according to Fairtrade
International’s website.
There are a
lot of things that are good with the Fairtrade thinking and vision. However I
find it to be a bit problematic when you say that you represent something but
only do it halfhearted. Here’s why.
Fairtrade sounds good, of course it does. But
at the same time it is a way for consumers, particularly us living in the
Western world, to pat ourselves on our shoulders and have a coffee with a good
conscious. According to Fairtrade producers are given to opportunity to improve
their lives through the partnership. Now, Fairtrade pays salaries according to
the minimum wage of every country. So if you are in Ghana working on a cocoa
farm, then your salary will be 5.24 Ghana cedis a/day according to their
minimum wage, which is too little in comparison to the labor. In Europe, the worst minimum wage is in
Eastern Europe which is about 10 Euros/day. This means that a Ghanaian farmer
will in one month earn what an Eastern European earns in about two working
days. One has to also take into consideration the working conditions. Working
in the African scorching sun for 5 Ghana cedis/day, is that fair? It’s not fair
since the policies and process of setting the policies for the minimum wage of
for example Ghana might not even be a fair one. So how can Fairtrade go in
accordance with that?
Also I
think it’s ridiculous to say that it’s a way for consumers to reduce poverty
through every day shopping. Now, we all know the debates that “we who live in
the rich part of the world would change our way of living we would all live in
a fair world”. That’s why I have a problem with the above statement from
Fairtrade. It implies that, “hey my fellow Westerners, we can still shop
without feeling guilty”. The statement does not help in changing any form of
consumerism lifestyle that we have in this part of the world. Instead it says
that there are other ways of going about it. Furthermore I think that it tells
us that they can’t reduce poverty without the help of Fairtrade and Fairtrade’s
consumers. This in turn brings more guilt and therefore more consumers, so
instead of buying normal coffee you’ll buy the Fairtrade brand thinking that
you did the good deed of the day. And of course as I said before there are good
regulations that ensure producers certain rights. However it is quite annoying that the
salaries are according to the minimum wage in each country while Fairtrade
product are really expensive comparing to other products of the same kind.
There should be a prize for labor instead. I mean nobody in Sweden would accept
5 Ghana cedis for that type of labor so why is it acceptable in another country
when negotiations of minimum wages are unfair in the first place?
To me this just
sounds like another form of exploitation of other countries. Because the
Fairtrade organization is not volunteer work, they get a salary as well. It’s
just a more acceptable way of using the injustices in this world to make money.
The
workers/producers get rights that they don’t get at other working places so
this is fairly good. At least the working place is democratic and has to follow
other principles that actually obligate the working place to include workers in
certain issues. And better working conditions etc etc. Of course Fairtrade with
all their conditions and regulations will look better than the other company
who takes advantage of poor workers and treat them bad at the same time.
Fairtrade will definitely look better. However, I don’t believe in Fairtrade.
It is unfair and it’s just a way for consumers to pat their shoulders and feel
good and wipe away the guilt!
