I realized that I’ve written a good deal about ‘fair trade’ here, and haven’t provided any sort of definition. I guess I just assumed that most people already knew, but you know what they say about people who assume….(wait, is that an assumption….?)

Instead of recreating the fair trade wheel, this is the wonderfully complete set of principles outline by the International Fair Trade Association.

• Equal partnership and respect between producers and consumers

• A fair price for socially just and environmentally sound work

• Healthy working conditions

• Fair market access for poverty alleviation and sustainable development

• Stable, transparent and long-term partnership

• Guaranteed minimum wages and prompt payment

• Premiums on Fair Trade products used to develop community projects

• Encouraging better environmental practices

I went to my first ever Greenfest, the one in ournationscaptial, on Saturday. I was impressed, and also disappointed. (I must admit, though, that I was not feeling the least bit well, I was coming off of migraine, so that may have colored my views, so please take all this with a grain of sea salt.)

First, to the disappointments I sort of expected more. I don’t know what, but it seemed to be lacking a certain essential buzz, or products that make you go, ‘wow, that is so clever!’ or ‘how could one live without that?’ Instead I found rather typical products, the organic makeup, the organic juices, the organic chocolates, the green and lefty media.

Of course, I went specifically looking for the ‘fair trade’ vendors of fashion accessories. I didn’t see everything, but, again, I had hoped for more than flax pants, and hemp wallets. (There was more, of course. This is a bit of an exaggeration.) In short, I wonder when ‘fair trade,’ and ‘green,’ will grab the public beyond thinking that it’s just ‘ethnic’ ‘hippie’ stuff; i.e. wallets made by a collective in Honduras, earrings made with coconut shells from some amazing island in the Pacific. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that, but isn’t it time to broaden this out a bit?

I heard on NPR this morning that the public has lost its enchantment with ‘free trade.’ They seem to think that it SHOULD be good, but it’s not really working for them. Well, I could have told them that. Plus, the news is all abuzz today with Costa Rica joining CAFTA.

Anyway, the way we ‘trade’ isn’t some natural state. People obviously have been trading since countries took their fleets to foreign lands. Whatever.

As an importer who adheres to fair trade standards, there’s absolutely no reason at all why this standards were not codified in trade agreements.

If you want to learn more, just google ‘fair trade.’ (Ok, I know that’s a bit lazy.) 

I hosted two very good friends of mine over the weekend that I know from grad school in Labor Studies at UMASS.

It was great to see them, but it made realize how far away I’ve been from the ‘official’ labor movement, which, when I left my last union job two years ago consisted of pushing paper in a cubicle, a beige, windowless one at that, on the sixth floor of an ugly building, about three blocks from the White House.

Now, I don’t want to complain about my previous job/s. And, I don’t want to diminish any work of the ‘official’ (read: having an office in DC) parts of the U.S. labor movement. It’s just that seeing my friends, who both in different researching capacities in different places for the same very large union, made me realize how far away I am from that world, and how far away much of ‘official’ labor is from the workers of the world. (Ok, I realized this in the past, too, but there’s nothing like seeing it again, from a distance.)

I certainly don’t want to bash anything the labor movement does. I may disagree with some macro-strategies, and the entire realpolitik mode that many unions and federations engage in, but there are real problems for workers now. And, I firmly believe in it in theory. I just have had some issues, of late, with some practice.

In any event, I’m too far away from all this to make a cogent argument. Plus, that’s too tangential.

However, seeing my union ‘brothers,’ and explaining to them how Three Stone Steps, selling scarves, handbags, jewelry rolls, and cosmetic bags, etc. etc. etc. has the same ultimate mission as what they do at their union, was really enlightening. I mean, it’s the same mission, isn’t it? It’s about helping workers gain power, because, like the hokey pokey, that’s what it’s all about.

It’s not about charity.
It’s not about social work.
It’s about power.

In any event, I know that no one really needs another scarf, as gorgeous as they are, and as much as they help the people who made them. And, I know that no one will buy anything that they don’t like just because it may be made by landmine or polio victims. I want people to love what they buy, and feel good about it. Ultimately, I’d like to help people think about all their purchasing decisions and the workers who made their handbags.

At this point, I’m not so sure about the ‘official’ reaction of ‘official’ labor to ‘fair trade.’ I know that if I’m buying stuff from Cambodia, I’m not really adding any much needed union members in the U.S., but that’s no reason it should be ignored. I know, I know, it’s not getting people elected, or servicing or organizing new members, but it’s being on the same side in the global economy.