The fair trade concept makes a good model for doing business in offices in the United States, as well as coffee fields overseas.
That’s the impression that UUP Membership Development Officer Edward Quinn came away with in December, after spending a day touring the suburban Boston offices of Equal Exchange, a privately owned company that operates on a nonprofit social justice model in West Bridgewater, Mass.
Equal Exchange distributes coffee, tea and chocolate – and also processes coffee beans — that have been produced according to the principles of “fair trade.” Under fair trade practices, distributors and purchasers guarantee that the farmers and workers in the often-poor countries producing these high-demand products work in conditions that are, in Equal Exchange’s own words, “economically just and environmentally sound.”
Spreading the word on fair trade
NYSUT and UUP have worked in recent years to heighten awareness of the exploitive and inhumane conditions that workers in poor countries face while harvesting the coffee, tea and cocoa crops for consumers in the United States. Farmers often sell their crops at less than fair value, and children often work long hours at arduous and dangerous jobs on farms and coffee plantations.
The New York State Labor-Religion Coalition buys fair trade chocolate bars for fundraising efforts through Equal Exchange. The Fair Trade Task Force set up the visit and the company tour because members wanted to learn more about Equal Exchange’s operations and products, as well as obtain information that teachers can use in classroom lessons about fair trade practices.
“I think it was a good trip for the task force, because although we knew about the concept, it really helps when you see what’s going on there,” Quinn said.
Equal Exchange, one of the pioneers of the fair trade concept, just celebrated its 20th anniversary. The company’s philosophy was summarized on a fact sheet and agenda given to the Task Force visitors: “We believe that today’s industrial food economy keeps small farmers and their communities in poverty. We believe business as usual is destroying our environment. We believe people are dangerously disconnected from the farmers who grow our food and the systems that get it to market. We are here to challenge and to change it.”
Fair trade, fun workplace
Quinn said the values promoted by the company overseas also resonate through its headquarters. For example, no one in the company can make more than four times the salary of the lowest-paid worker. Not surprisingly, he added, “People really like working there.”
He was also surprised to see employees gathering in the cafeteria at the day’s end for conversation and companionship before heading home.
“You don’t expect to see that, in that kind of setting,” Quinn said. “It was a worthwhile trip.”
One immediate result: Quinn checked out the coffee in the kitchen at UUP headquarters in Albany and asked, “Why aren’t we buying fair trade coffee here?”
Consider it done. UUP has just ordered its first shipment of fair trade coffee.
— Darryl McGrath