Social Justice: Consumers with Compassion
Fair trade movement promotes economic justice for workers

By Rebecca Bostic, The Catholic Sun
December 21, 2006

The Fair Trade Café on Central and Roosevelt may appear to be just a run-of-the-mill coffeehouse.

A closer look, however, reveals quotes about solidarity on the wall and fair trade crafts and coffee for sale. The café is committed to selling only fair trade items including coffee, chocolates and artisan products.

The fair trade movement promotes economically stable business through fair wages, said Sandra McClain, the café’s manager.

Fair trade coffee is “given a guaranteed rate per pound to the farmers,” McClain said. Spending a bit more on fair trade coffee can help workers earn better wages.

Tricia Hoyt, the director of the Office of Peace and Justice for Catholic Charities Arizona, believes Catholic social teaching asks society to put these just structures in place.

“Where economic structures are creating disenfranchisement of a vulnerable community, we must not support that,” she said.

Hoyt believes that fair trade goods offer an effective way for Catholics to begin monitoring their consumption.

Fair trade coffee is generally more expensive than the bulk coffee brands, but is evenly priced when compared to high quality blends. Many coffeehouses around the country provide a fair trade option, but it rarely makes up the majority of sales.

“You can be confident that if you’re buying fair trade coffee, in general, you’re buying coffee from producers who have received a just salary for that particular product,” Hoyt said.

“So it’s good that Starbucks and other such companies offer fair trade products,” she added. “It’s even better when certain companies decide to devote themselves uniquely to selling fair trade coffee.”

The going rate for fair trade coffee is $1.26 per pound, five cents more than average. But the cost increase doesn’t just go toward wages.

“Incentives are also given to grow organic, shade-grown coffee to make production sustainable long term,” McClain said.

Fair trade certified farmers also have “a level of insurance” that protects them from losing their farm due to a bad year of crops, according to McClain.

Fair wages for clothing

American Apparel — a clothing company based in Los Angeles — is likewise trying to turn the garment industry on its head.

The clothing company is best known for its bright materials. Yet American Apparel’s real uniqueness is its revolutionary just treatment of the garment workers.

The company offers family medical benefits, lunches and bus passes at low costs. They sponsor a health and wellness program that includes massage therapists on site every day and a stretching program at 2 p.m. for all production staff. The list does not end there.

“We feel they (American Apparel employees) deserve what other industries give their employees such as medical benefits and the opportunity to earn decent wages,” said Kristina Ledesma-Davies, from American Apparel’s human resources department.

The company pays the average sewing operator $13.50 an hour with some operators making as much as $18 an hour. The pay depends on the style of the garment they are sewing.

“By cutting the ‘sweatshop’ you are valuing human beings for the work they produce,” Ledesma-Davies said. “Companies can respect their workforce and that investment is returned by loyalty and hard work.”

Beyond a unique commitment to ethics in the garment industry, Ledesma-Davies believes that the American Apparel customers appreciate the company’s just way of operating.

“Consumers like our product and agree with the way we treat our employees,” she said. “We can’t lose if we continue to provide both.”

American Apparel credits some of its successful sales to buyers supporting how it treats its workers.

While Hoyt, of the Office of Peace and Justice, is not sure the market is primed yet for just consumers, she firmly believes that through action, one can be created in the free market.

“Go to the place you know the labor practices are good to shop,” she recommended.

“Go to the place where you know the labor practices are not good and give them a very nice postcard of regret explaining why you were not able to buy from them,” she added.

Hoyt believes “the economy should work for people and not the other way around,” she said, noting the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ document “Economic Justice for All,” written more than 20 years ago.

She recommends a new way of viewing Catholic discipleship through the lens of social justice.

“Many people think about their discipleship in terms of their prayer and worship and their charitable donations,” Hoyt said. “Wouldn’t it be a delight if people could understand their discipleship is tied up with how they consume?”

A global coffee perspective

Earth Friendly Coffee offers customers a just choice.

Based in Colorado, Earth Friendly Coffee is one of the 14 fair trade coffee companies Catholic Relief Services has partnered with to promote fair trade products.

Diane Hughes, the founder of Earth Friendly Coffee, said 90 percent of her business comes from Catholic churches that either sell or provide their staff and parishioners with her coffee.

“It’s a cheap price to pay,” Hughes said, adding that many Hispanics and immigrants come to America because of unjust wages.

“Those people don’t want to come here,” she said. “They can’t make a living in their own land because American companies go down there and they don’t pay fairly.”

Hoyt backs Hughes’ claims with an example from Chiapas, Mexico. Workers were slowly deserting a coffee farming community because it couldn’t provide an acceptable wage. A cooperative was set up in Chiapas and now the city is growing again.

“Not only have families stopped migrating, but they are beginning to rebuild the community in the area,” Hoyt said of Chiapas. “That’s what fair trade does: it returns folks back to where they want to be in the first place and it gives them a livelihood.”

The Fair Trade Café in Phoenix has been one of the biggest coffee buyers for the Just Coffee cooperative in Chiapas and hopes to be able to help more cities revitalize.

“People should not just have this kind of blind consumerism, but should be conscious of who is getting their money,” said Sandra McClain, the café’s manager. “If people want to make a difference they can do so on a really personal level if they are funneling their money in the right ways.”

Without this consciousness, people have no way of knowing what their money supports, according to McClain.

“I just want people to think about what they’re buying,” McClain said. “I think it kind of helps some, makes us more of a community and makes sure that we are taking care of each other in a way that we’ve kind of lost track of.”