Simply put, Fair Trade is a trading system based on fairness, dignity and respect in all levels of operations. It’s also a sustainable business approach, whereby People, the Planet and Profit are equally important in the workplace.
Fair Trade - caring for you, your community and the environment
Fair Trade is guided by 10 internationally-recognised Fair Trade Principles. These are:
- Creating opportunities for disadvantaged producers
- Being paid a fair price and fair wages
- Supporting safe, healthy and participatory workplaces
- Building the capacity of producers and their workers
- Ensuring environmental sustainability
- Building direct, long-term relationships with producers
- Ensuring public accountability and transparency
- Eliminating child labor
- Promoting gender equity
- Promoting fair trade
In order for an organization to state they are Fair Trade, they must be able to prove that they comply by the above standards. This is done through Fair Trade labelling and accreditation – and at present there are audits that can be carried out on the Philippine level (World Fair Trade Organization – Philippines), regionally (World Fair Trade Organization – Asia) and globally (World Fair Trade Organization).
Why is there a need for Fair Trade?
This video by New Zealand-based fair trade organisation Trade Aid says it very well through animation:
Basically, traditional trade models favor driving down the price of product inputs (eg labor costs, raw materials, natural resources) in order to maximise profits. Unfortunately, in a free trade stance, this often means making the rich richer and the poor poorer. In developing countries such as the Philippines, labor laws aren’t well complied to and lack transparency, which means that companies are able to exploit their workers and environment with little consequence.
Here is where Fair Trade comes in – by setting up an alternative trading model based on fairness (governed by the 10 principles mentioned above) then workers and their environment are treated fairly and with dignity. Despite Fair Trade’s small market share, it is growing rapidly – with the global fair trade industry growing exponentially at the 40% mark in the last two years. This shows that together, in a consumer ‘bayanihan‘ spirit, we can challenge conventional trade practices.
