Trade versus aid

In a recent blog post by Marc Choyt this week the following question was raised;

"More jobs versus better jobs: which helps more in the developing world?"

This led us here at Opulent Ethics to think again about that old slogan “Trade not aid” which became popular with the raising awareness of third world issues through the Body Shop, Live Aid and the Fair Trade movement, to name but a few.

Over the years “Trade not aid” has been tested and proven to work successfully for all parties involved. Rather than a quick fix it allows confidence to build and provides a long-term solution to those people in need.

And the Body Shop used its Community Fair Trade (formerly known as Trade not Aid) initiative to help, not only those abroad, but communities within the UK. One of their biggest success stories was the start of a soap factory in a poor suburb of Glasgow which provided 100 jobs to local residents.

Within today’s recession stricken world jobs are a much needed necessity but should developments in labour and human rights laws take a back seat behind creating large numbers of jobs throughout so that our economies can right themselves quicker?

Marc Choyt’s Fair Jewelry Action blog which campaigns for and reports on environmental justice and human rights issues does allow both sides of the argument to be discussed openly with the opposition stating that; 

"I know if I paid below the minimum wage I could hire twice as many people and probably do more good… But I don’t want to go down that track. It also results in a downward wage spiral, which perhaps in essence takes away a job from a higher paid person in one country and transfers it to a lower paid person in another, without necessarily creating more jobs in the wider scheme of things."  

Whilst Opulent Ethics understands the theory behind the statement we find it hard to believe that a mass increase in low paid jobs could have any on-going, long-term positive effect. Surely it would just be a step backwards and may even impact on Fair Trade developments.

There have been many advances made in small communities the world over with the Fair Trade movement and we are now caught up in the sway of this. To put this to one side for a while would not only damage those communities whose lives have been improved but also the developed world’s perception of product worth.  

Yes, we need more jobs to help us work our way out of recession but should now not be seen as the perfect time to make modest improvements to worthwhile causes rather than moving towards re-establishing an environment of child labour and sweat shop produced products which leaves consumers disillusioned and less likely to spend in the long-term?

Opulent Ethics hopes that the need for more jobs rather than better jobs is not the opinion of the masses but just the non-altruistic few.

To see Marc Choyt's article in full please click here.

That’s all for now….

  Fair Trade cotton producers

Fair Trade cocoa producers

Fair Trade fruit producers