Opinion

Don't buy cheap, buy fair

By John Gathright

The lady in the luxury car in front of me was dripping with jewels, her husband was behind the wheel, and they were raging over a 3 dollars parking ticket: "We spent 900 dollars in your store and all we get is one hour of free parking!" They shouted and swore as cars queued up behind them.

Suddenly, a man got out of his SUV, marched up to the parking-lot cashier, threw 3 dollars on the counter, and turned to the foulmouthed couple and hissed, "Cheap arse!" The parking lot exploded with sudden clapping. The whole situation was funny, but in another sense those 3 dollars made me start thinking.

The couple in question didn't care that all of us were waiting. It seemed so selfish and cheap. Yet, when you think about it, most of us who live in wealthy countries are often more selfish over even less money. Our desire to save a few dollars can often waste lives and cause hardship and suffering for people in other countries. Unfortunately, most people are totally unaware that their purchases may be hurting others.

I am talking about fair trade, a very simple concept. Take baseball as an example. Both teams must use the same equipment and the same number of players. Each team must then play fair by the rules. This creates an environment that lets the team that works the hardest or has the best talent win. Well, world trade is supposed to be similar.

Unfortunately, it isn't. Wealthy countries and companies do their best to buy goods as cheaply as they can from poorer countries. If a country is too poor, this will force their population into working for too little money in hazardous or environmentally damaging conditions in order to sell products to wealthy countries. The harder these people work, the more their debts. Their families are starving and uneducated, and often their children are sold into slavery or child labor. Lack of fair prices creates these unfair conditions.

Fair trade aims to encourage people to produce high-quality products in an ethical and environmentally sustainable manner. Producers receive a fair price for their products and workers are paid enough money to cover basic needs, such as food, shelter, education and health care for their families.

It is very difficult to ask companies to make fair purchases, so the Fair Trade Movement was created to encourage consumers to buy fair-trade goods. You can recognize fair-trade goods by the "Fair Trade" label. These goods may be a little more expensive, but they guarantee that the families that produced or made the products were paid a fair wage.

The Fair Trade Movement is about 40 years old and has started to gain popularity in Japan. Products include foods like chocolate, coffee, tea, honey, bananas and sugar, and lately, fair-trade jewelry, textiles and ceramics have also come onto the market.

I am all for purchasing fair-trade products. I still like a good bargain and enjoy getting things on sale, but when I have the chance to buy fair-trade products, I do. I sometimes think that to people who live and work in very poor countries, we must seem like the wealthy couple in the parking lot. If they could see my lifestyle, I am sure that someone would hiss, "Cheap arse," and a whole country would start to clap.

Shukan ST: April 25, 2003

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