Disparities in income, quality of life, and so forth are certainly worth talking about. My critique was that it came across to me as a simplistic anti-corporate tirade in sound-bite form, without addressing any of the underlying assumptions. The bit about outsourcing is one example – the owner or CEO of company is going to be spending considerable time & effort on balancing expenses vs. revenue; outsourcing is only one of many possible courses of action a CEO could take to address costs vs. income. To disparage outsourcing with a blanket statement smacks of protectionism and nationalism, attitudes that seem fundamentally at odds with the goals of the Fair Trade movement.

Michael Johnson
“@TheBrummell, we give a damn because if we don’t then no one else probably will. It’s a big business, coffee that is, which is why there should be more effort to support what’s conscientious.”
I give a damn about poverty. I give a damn about inequalities and unfairness. I give a damn about criminal activities and human rights abuses, especially if they are occurring because of actions I have taken or decisions I’ve made. And I give a damn about coffee – I drink a considerable amount of it.

I don’t give a damn about some hyper-rich person’s daily to-do list, as long as that list contains no severely unethical behaviour. Monopolies, suppression of human rights, bribery of officials, creating barriers to the formation of organised labour or the free movement of people, these are severely unethical behaviours. Buying a commodity cheaply where it is produced and selling it for more money somewhere else is not. Ripping off the producers, by lying about costs of transport, or by creating a sole-buyer-dictates-prices situation, is unethical.

I just want to say that Fair Trade, like many other organizations who are trying to better the world piece by piece, could use such inputs. One thing we could do is reach out to these organizations and make them aware about some points that we think and feel they can improve on. I’m sure there are enough good people out there working in organizations or companies that promote fairer types of trade that would hear our voices out (and actually do something).

By the way, we mean in no way to come across as “Marxist” as that is really far from our convictions. We presented these statistical data this way to show the grave disparity that exists between the components of the coffee industry to fuel thoughts and actions.

I believe, as consumers, it is a duty to be responsible about what we buy as well as the subsequent social ripples of our preferences and commercial activities. Sure, we all do have to make money and there is nothing wrong with that. Companies do need to profit and profit is the point of trade. It’s just that there more ways that we can make it fairer – fairer to those that literally carry the industry on their backs. Fair Trade is just one of many.

If you want to get your points across to the people behind Fair Trade, please contact these organizations:

USA
http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/fairtrade/products/wheretobuy.cfm
http://www.fairtradeusa.org/products-partners/coffee?gclid=CIHk1r77v7YCFUFU4godNCgAGA

UK
http://fairtradelondon.org.uk/guide/fairtrade-high-street/
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/buyersguides/drink/coffeeshops.aspx

Canada
http://fairtrade.ca/en/business-centre/registered-companies

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