Community Activists Compare Their Struggle to Fair Trade
By Kevin Robinson in News on Feb 23, 2010 7:40PM
Earlier this month the Chicago City Council approved the Chicago Fair Trade Resolution, bringing the city closer to being the largest Fair Trade City in North American. Sponsored by 4th Ward Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, the resolution commits Chicago to promoting and procuring commodities produced via a market-based economic system that requires a living wage and safe, environmentally sustainable conditions for workers, artisans and farmers. “I have always been a strong proponent of living wage legislation, not only here but around the world,” says Preckwinkle. “I’ve been concerned with environmental preservation, which is another component of this resolution.”
Fair Trade certification assures consumers that products they buy aren't made with child or sweatshop labor, and that earnings from their sale will support economic independence and entrepreneurship, especially in developing economies. Good Jobs Chicago is also calling for fair trade in Chicago - closer to home. Rev. Booker Vance, a Lutheran pastor in Chatham considers the timing of the fair trade resolution “ironic,” given Wal-Mart’s renewed campaign to expand in Chicago. Vance is president of Southsiders Organizing for Unity and Liberation, a member of the Good Jobs Chicago coalition.
"Wal-Mart is the wealthiest, most influential ‘big box’ corporation on the planet,” Vance said in a statement. “It’s responsible for the export of businesses and tens of thousands of jobs to China, where you have reports of worker mistreatment or cost cutting that reduces the quality and safety of food and merchandise that ends up on Wal-Mart’s shelves. Add to that the numerous reports documenting the negative standard Wal-Mart sets in the U.S. - whether it’s wages, health benefits, working conditions, discrimination, or stifling competition and economic opportunities outside their walls.” Good Jobs Chicago is calling on aldermen to pass a living wage ordinance that will provide for a living wage, affordable health care and respect for worker's rights to organize. 15th Ward Alderman Toni Foulkes echoed that sentiment, saying that her ward needs jobs, but “we’re not so desperate as to throw up our hands, toss standards to the wind and settle for whatever we get. It would be hypocritical of Chicago to preach fair trade practices everywhere but our own back yard.”