Sometimes, changing the way the world thinks begins close to home.

And so as the NYSUT Fair Trade Task Force marks its first year, its members are expanding the group’s reach into school districts and college campuses around the state, said UUP Membership Development Officer Edward Quinn. Quinn is a founding appointee to the task force, which also has members from NYSUT and the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition.

In its first year, the task force formed a strong relationship with Equal Exchange, a supplier of fair-trade food products. UUP members sampled and purchased those products from a task force display booth at two Delegate Assemblies in the last year.

Now, the task force is trying to learn which school districts and campuses adhere to fair trade and fair labor practices in their coffee shops and stores, Quinn said. The task force is also developing lesson plans and training materials for teachers that will be used to explain the goals of the fair trade movement.

“We’re contacting NYSUT local presidents and UUP chapter presidents to see if they can find out what’s going on with their campus or their school district,” Quinn said. “What we’re trying to do is get out there to the school districts and the campuses and get the message out. Ultimately, what we want to try to do is offer them an alternative.”

NYSUT created the Fair Trade Task Force last year following the 2006 NYSUT Representative Assembly, at which representatives approved a resolution to promote fair trade. The task force follows the Labor-Religion Coalition’s definition of fair trade, which most commonly, but not exclusively, refers to coffee, tea and chocolate, Quinn said. Under that definition, the “fair trade” designation guarantees a price that can support the families of the workers in that industry; protects the environment; supports democracy and local communities; promotes education; and encourages a sustainable model of international trade.

The NYSUT Social Studies Curriculum Committee has also been working with the task force to prepare a series of lesson plans about fair trade that will be offered for use in social studies classes in school districts around the state, said Maureen Casey, the Labor-Religion Coalition’s international project coordinator and a member of the Fair Trade Task Force. Equal Exchange has told the task force that the lesson plans are also noteworthy because they conform with New York’s strict state standards for curriculum, Casey said.

“Equal Exchange is thrilled; we are thrilled,” Casey said. “Once people know about fair trade, they’re tremendously excited about it and want to run with it. That has been this year’s lesson.”

— Darryl McGrath