http://www.care2.com/greenliving/have-a-sweatshop-free-labor-day.html
Have a Sweatshop-Free Labor Day
End of summer. Back to school. Big sale at the mall. Labor Day has come to mean something quite different from what it was originally intended. The holiday was created in the 1800s by a New York labor union as “a day off for the working man.” It became a federal holiday in 1894 and is regarded today as a day of rest. So as you prepare for your barbecues, trips to the beach, one last weekend fling before flinging yourself back into your studies, I’d like to suggest you take a moment to ponder the plight of the working men and women around the world.
As you know, thanks to a little thing called globalization, there are billions of people all over the globe working in sweatshop conditions and being paid barely enough to buy a bowl of rice so that we Americans can have every little thing our heart desires for the lowest possible price. The antidote to this is Fair Trade, which means just what it says: People being paid a fair price for goods provided.
These days you can get lots of Fair Trade goods. And while sometimes they’re hard to find, sometimes they are literally staring you in the face. A lot of stores are now offering Fair Trade chocolate, sugar, tea and coffee right alongside their counterparts. The bonus is that these things are also organic, because part of protecting workers means not forcing them to work with harmful pesticides. A lot of Fair Trade stuff is also recycled. I recently was at the bookstore in pursuit of a new journal (I know, writing on paper! How old-fashioned!) and decided to choose the one that was made of all recycled paper and produced sweatshop-free in Canada by EcoJot. Plus the designs are totally cute and it didn’t cost any more than the others.
Now I’d love to say I only buy things that are Fair Trade. Truth is, probably as much as 75 percent of the stuff I own is likely made in sweatshops by people being paid non-living wages. But when faced with a choice, and more and more lately it seems there is a choice, I make the right one. And if everyone did that, the demand for Fair Trade goods would rise and therefore so would the supply. (Is that the law of supply and demand? I might have fallen asleep that day in Economics.)
In any case, this Labor Day let’s raise a cup of Fair Trade coffee to the international workers and the people who fight for them and take some time to learn 12 Ways to Shop Fair Trade from Co-Op America. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Labor Day than to support retailers that are committed to fair wages and good working conditions.
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13 comments
add your comment »I agree with the comment about the US Sweatshops...our small local rural town has always revolved around the few places of employment that are foreign owned. They pick us our town to locate to because we have a large number of people needing jobs so they pay very very little, work them to death, use up all our resources then close down, leaving 90 people unemployed all in one fell swoop. It has happened over and over again in this area...sad. My mother in law worked for over 25 years for one company only to be making barely over minimum wage when they closed down due to moving operations to overseas. The upper management and owners of these companies do not care about the people or the community that they are abusing...It is a darn shame. Then the only other large employers are 30 to 60 minutes away and are electric plants, chemical companies, coal mines...These companies get praised and get tax breaks because they are providing so many jobs to the needy communities but noone stops to realize how dangerous these places are to work, or how they are polluting the surrounding area, or how the employees get no benefits, and if they are lucky enough to "retire" they end up having tons of medical problems due to their exposure to god-knows-what over the years...They are being totally exploited!
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WELUCKYJERRYS HERE!!!SANGHOLDYERHEADUPHIGHSUPER!!!WATCHTVEVERY~LABORDAY=1800FIGHTMD +HELP&YAFEELSUPERGOOD!!!WE ALLWANNAWALK!!! BEST~ANSWER=BUYSTUFF ON BIGCATS TELLYERFRIENDS!!!&SAVEWORLD!!!=BUZZALDRIN&TARZAN JOHNNYWEISMULLER BEPROUDOF YA=THEYTURNED ME ENVIRONMENTALSUPER!!!METEMHEREINFLORIDA!!!BUZZ GOTAZILLIONPET EAGLES AT KSC!!!BUZZSAWEARTHFROM MOON=REALIZE WEGOTTASAVE EARTH COZ HEWISH THEREBE CAREING MOONMAIDENS&KITTENS&JUNGLE&AIR=ONMOON!!!TARZAN1974LETUSPETHIS LEPARDS&LIONS&HERD!!!}IBOUGHTTHIS PC CELERON{CELERY}ITSBEENSUPERGOOD!!!300MHZ 272RAM ON EBAY=$4+$60SHIP!!!=ONLYTO SAVE^^CATS ECOLGY&ROCKNROLLFUN!!! IM~LEVEL3SNOWLEPARD!!!WOODSTOCKTIBETMONKSFAVE CAT!!! SPCA HAS CATHRIFTSTORE=BETTERTHAN~SPRAWLMART!!! WATCHING JERRY LEWIS ITHOUGHTWOW!!!=MAYBE YALLCAN TALKTHEM MAYBETHEY CANCURE ANNIES STUFF&YALLCANTELL JERRY HOWTOMAKECLICKFREEDONATE SITE LIKE THIS&MAYBE JERRY CANHAVE ACLICKTHING ONBIGCAT PAGE&YALLWILLGETWAY MORECLICKS MORE ADVERTISERS=MAKE=HUGE=MRTRUMPM
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What about fair trade for the American worker? You try living on $100/month. I'm an American - born caucasian in Ohio!
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we have to think about of them everytime we wear something, and we must share to them many congratulations for their supports or contributions to a beautiful world.
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Regarding Karra's comment below on finding fair-trade items in one place, I just discovered that at Overstock.com, they have a section called Worldstock, which is dedicated to offering fair-trade items in a whole range of categories (frm home decor and furniture to jewelry to clothing and more) - the items are also chosen to be sustainable and environmentally sound. They've also banned the sale of fur products (the first online store to do so), and were highlighted in the latest issue of of the HSUS magazine.
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We should all count our blessings and reaise how dam lucky we are to be here in the U S of A.
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something needs to be done.I lost my home because the Yarn Mill where my hubby and I worked closed in 1999.It was located in Clifton Heights,Pa.Even the union couldn't help us.They just took dues and didn't fight for us.As a matter of fact the 2 union reps walked off with our local funds.It was the kind of place where in a 20 year period your raises amounted to a little over 2.50.All that happened while management had their bonuses.
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I think they should make fair trade easier to purchase,, maybe having a whole section in one place..
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Boycott Goodwill Industries. They mistreat and abuse their workers
www.shameongoodwillindustries.com
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And then again, there are those who cannot afford to buy clothes other than from the flea markets. At least this way, they can offload from the better endowed who may need other new ones and keep the labourer at work
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