Fair Trade – Fair Wages and Working Conditions

So I just did a post about a company called “Fair Indigo” who was nice enough to send me a “Jooble” plush for my son. Well what really amazed me, other than how fabulous the toy was, was that they participate in this concept called “Fair Trade.” I went over about what “Fair Trade” is briefly when I reviewed the “Jooble,” but since I cannot get the idea out of my head.

Okay so now you are probably wondering what “Fair Trade” is? Fair Trade is a way for organizations to create sustainable and positive change in underdeveloped and developing countries. It is not charity or donations, but rather doing the right thing. These companies agree to pay a fair wage, not just minimum wage, to workers, so the workers can live relatively comfortable. Also, working conditions are in a safe and healthy environment. These are just two of the factors that Fair Trade companies value. (You can read more at “Fair Trade Federation.”

Traditionally, fair trade is mainly geared towards commodities like coffee, tea, fruits, and cotton, but is now moving towards other products such as clothing. Why are they limited to commodities mainly? Well it is because those items are easy to monitor compared to manufactured goods. Items like clothing are complicated because all the components come from many different sources and then you have to include wages, labor laws, and factory conditions.

Now maybe your thinking that Fair Trade items are more expensive, right? No necessarily as since if a company manages it well and eliminates middle men, big time advertising, and buys bigger shares at a time. Also, some of these companies use worker-owned cooperatives so overhead is eliminated as the workers and owners are the same. A good example of this, is a grocery store I used to live near. It was worker owned and their prices were actually very competitive to other stores and they had a huge selection. Workers there were also very friendly and helpful and you can tell they actually take pride in their jobs and place of employment.

I guess I never really thought about it until now, since I haven’t worked outside the home in a few years, but minimum wage really is not a lot of money. I think back to when I was 16 and how the $4.25/hr. I made was a lot of money and how if I made a couple hundred dollars for the month, I was thrilled. Luckily I didn’t have any bills back then, but I think now that how would I have paid them with my little income I was also very lucky that my jobs were all safe environments and I didn’t have to worry about anything.

There are people out there though that do make minimum wage or less and I think it is easy to take things for granted. I mean I look around my house and a lot is made by machines but the things that are handmade I wonder about the person who made it. Like did they make enough money by making those clothes for my children to feed their own? Of course there are plenty of people here in the US that are struggling, but with so many products being made in other countries it made me wonder.

So I am sorry I am rambling on about this, but I just think that it is such a wonderful concept that these companies are taking their own initiatives. They are not sitting around and waiting to be told to do this by the government. Hopefully in the future more companies will follow in these footsteps.