INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

NO SWEAT FASHION:

Molly can't claim to have much interest in the sort of thing discussed below. Quite frankly it has been decades since I was "in fashion" of any sort- regular or alternative. Others, however, may be interested. Here, from the International Labor Rights Forum is their summer selection of sweat free apparel.

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Are you a Summer Fashionista?:‏


Summer is just around the corner! This year you can update your summer collection and support workers around the world at the same time. Before you hit the stores to stock up on flip flops and tank tops, check out our 2009 Shop With a Conscience Consumer Guide, where you can find a list of retailers that offer cool sweatfree summer selections, all produced by unionized workers or worker owned cooperatives.

For those of you not in the mood for shopping, check out this handy list of other ways you can support garment factory workers.

Below are just two options for you to check out. For a complete list of companies, go to the Shop with a Conscience Consumer Guide.
Looking for Something for Yourself?
Looking for Something for Your School, Group, Team or Organization?


No Sweat Apparel offers a little bit of everything for summer, from USA-made tees, tanks and accessories just for you or wholesale and custom printed tees - all year round! For your trips to the beach, score a new organic cotton tshirt, produced in Palestine. All of No Sweat's products come from unionized factories or worker owned cooperatives. It’s a great deal—reasonably priced clothing for you, and fair wages for workers around the world.

Ethix Merch offers an extensive selection of products that you can custom design for your team or organization. They have everything from apparel and sports equipment to custom made bags, pens, and mugs. The products they customize are all made by unionized workers, and they offer wide variety of recycled, eco-friendly products. Protect the environment and fair working conditions for workers and promote your team or group at the same time!

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

GETTING YOUR CHOCOLATE FIX ETHICALLY:

The following article is reprinted from the online magazine Straightgoods, a progressive project out of Ontario. Have a look at their site and consider subscribing. The article deals with the unpleasant reality behind the chocolate pleasure and how you might avoid contributing to this by "buying ethically". At the end of the article Molly has added a list of other resources about the Fair Trade Movement.

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The sweet taste of fair trade chocolate
Foil the speculators and undercut the slave traders by choosing your chocolate with care.
by Randy Rudolph
[Editor's Note: Fair Trade Weeks are observed around the world between February and June. Fair Trade Canada has declared May 1-15 to be Fair Trade Weeks here. For more information, see the Fair Trade website at the URL below.]

Buying "fair trade" chocolate can help circumvent the food price spike and as well as helping the developing world farmers who grow the cocoa bean and live in absolute poverty.

Many Canadians consider chocolate bars to be a guilty pleasure. Peel back the foil wrapper, take a bite and savour the potent sweetness of chocolate. Breathe in the 400 distinct smells that emanate from the cocoa bean, chocolate's key ingredient. A rose, in contrast, has only 14. But don't think about how the cocoa was grown, or that chocolate might taste bittersweet.

There are an estimated 15,000 child slaves working on farms and plantations in Cote D'Ivoire alone.

Cocoa is the key ingredient in chocolate production and is widely traded. While the production of cocoa provides a livelihood to 14 million people around the globe, the life of a cocoa producer is not an easy one. Many live in absolute poverty.





Worldwide cocoa prices are currently volatile on the international market, largely due to speculation. As a result, in many cocoa-producing nations farmers are unable to secure loans for fear of default. If they do qualify, interest rates are often unbearably high.





Sadly, most cocoa producers are unable to earn a living wage and must send their children out to the fields in order to provide for their families. Worse, it is not only the children of cocoa workers who are engaged in this work. Child slavery is quite prevalent in cocoa production. There are an estimated 15,000 child slaves working on farms and plantations in Cote D'Ivoire alone.





Child labourers are forced to pick the cocoa pods, slice them open and scoop out the cocoa beans. These kids work long, hard days, often from six in the morning until six at night. Beatings by farm owners and managers are common.





"The beatings were a part of my life," then-14-year-old freed slave Aly Diabete told international reporters in 2001. "Anytime they loaded you with bags (of cocoa) and you fell while carrying them, nobody helped you. Instead, they beat you and beat you until you picked it up again."





Even though he toiled many long days in hot fields picking cocoa — 400 pods are needed to make one pound of chocolate — Diabete only tasted the dark side of the industry.





Fortunately, there is an alternative. The fair trade movement has revolutionized — re-dignified — the relationship between producers and buyers, seeking to ensure that the sale of products produced in the developing world actually benefits the people producing them.





To be certified, fair trade products such as cocoa and coffee must be purchased from democratically organized cooperatives where the workers have the right to unionize and are provided with fair wages and benefits. Also, it must be produced using environmentally sustainable production methods, and production must conform to labour conventions set out by the International Labour Organization.





The price paid for fair trade cocoa is based in part on the cost of production, not only the international market price. Basing the fair trade price on the cost of production better buffers the consumer from speculative price spikes.





Price stability (based on actual production costs) has a profound impact on the lives of cocoa farmers, allowing them to feed their families, pay for basic medical care, and perhaps send their children to school. The price differential allows cooperatives to invest back into their communities.





Says Lucy, from the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative in Ghana: "We rely on the money we get from cocoa for everything: for food, clothes, medicines, and school fees. Getting payment for our cocoa beans used to be very hit and miss. When we didn't get paid, we went without. Kuapa Kokoo pays all its farmers a fair price for their crop, in cash, and on time. I am very happy since I joined Fair Trade I can afford to send my children to school."





Canadians love chocolate. We are the eighth largest importer of cocoa globally. Yet less than one percent of our chocolate is fair trade certified.





Buying fair trade makes good economic sense on both sides. Fair trade provides a fairer and more sustainable deal for farmers, and a responsible way for consumers to bite back at high commodity prices.





Randy Rudolph volunteers with RESULTS Canada, a grassroots citizens group advocating for basic human needs for the worlds' poorest.
Related addresses:
URL 1: transfair.ca/en/nftw

MOLLY'S LIST OF OTHER RELATED RESOURCES:
*The Fairtrade Foundation - UK
*Trans Fair Canada
*Dubble - UK
*Fair Trade Toronto
*Trans Fair USA
*Équiterre - Québec
*Ethical Trading Action Group
*Banana Link -UK
*Fair Trade organization - the international certifying agency
*The International Fair Trade Association
*European Fair Trade Association
*Fair Trade Manitoba

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:
ONLINE INFORMATION ON "ALTERNATIVE" OR "ETHICAL" CLOTHES:
For several years now the international Clean Clothes Campaign has been acting in solidarity with workers in the world's garment industry who are trying to improve their often brutal conditions of work. While much of the work involves campaigns against specific exploitative employers there is another side to this- the availability of clothes that are actually produced under fair labour conditions. The CCC has opened a section on their website for those who want to research such options. Here is their announcement.
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Online Information on "Alternative" or "Ethical" Clothes‏
Following campaigns by the international anti-sweatshop movement and increased consumer interest in fair trade and ethical shopping, a number of initiatives claiming to sell "ethical", "alternative" or "fairly produced" clothes have sprung up. The standards and processes of these initiatives vary greatly. For the concerned consumer, it is important to be able to assess and compare these different standards and to look critically at claims made by the new “ethical” market.




To help consumers make informed choices, the Clean Clothes Campaign has compiled an overview of these brands on its website. The focus is on small brands that attempting to challenge current trading systems and to find a different way of doing business. They are: Dignity Returns/Solidarity Factory, No Sweat and Blackspot Shoes. These brands may have long-term partnership-based sourcing relationships and may manufacture through partner cooperatives or artisan groups. New and updated information about other brands that make ethical claims or are perceived to be ethical, such as Gap Red, Edun, Kuyichi and American Apparel is included in the regular companies section on the CCC website.
For more information please see
http://www.cleanclothes.org/companies/ethical.htm.