Fair Trade & Social Justice
OCA's New Fair World Project
The Organic Consumers Association launched the Fair World Project (FWP) in September 2010 to promote fair trade in commerce, especially in organic production systems in developing countries as well as at home, and to protect the term "fair trade" from dilution and misuse for mere PR purposes. FWP fills the critical need for a watchdog of misleading fair trade claims, and a cheerleader for dedicated fair trade mission-driven companies.
News
June 14, 2006
Dear Friend,
Wal-Mart proudly boasts of over 2,600 stores and half a million employees outside the United States. But have you ever stopped to think about what that means?
If Wal-Mart has such a difficult time living up to Sam Walton's vision here in the US, one can only imagine the conditions and practices in places like China, Guatemala or Mexico, where labor and environmental abuses are far more common.
That's why organizations across the globe have joined the growing coalition around Wal-Mart Watch's "Handshake With Sam" agreement. Just like you, these Read more
Wal-Mart proudly boasts of over 2,600 stores and half a million employees outside the United States. But have you ever stopped to think about what that means?
If Wal-Mart has such a difficult time living up to Sam Walton's vision here in the US, one can only imagine the conditions and practices in places like China, Guatemala or Mexico, where labor and environmental abuses are far more common.
That's why organizations across the globe have joined the growing coalition around Wal-Mart Watch's "Handshake With Sam" agreement. Just like you, these Read more
News
June 16, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO - Major international footwear companies would be wise to pay as much attention to the plight of their workers as their marketing campaigns during the World Cup, said the international human rights group Oxfam, which ranked each of the world's major sportswear companies for a new report, ''Offside! Labor Rights and Sportswear Production in Asia.'' According to Oxfam, workers making clothes, shoes, and other goods for global sports brands have been dismissed or threatened with violence when they have organized unions to lobby for better pay and conditions. The report said a Read more
News
June 14, 2006
After saturating its target market of working class, bargain-hunting consumers, Wal-Mart is ratcheting up its low-price strategy to appeal to more upscale shoppers by expanding its merchandise lines to include organic foods, better wines, high-end consumer electronics and new fashion-oriented apparel. It's an approach that carries some risk, say Wharton faculty and analysts, but that is dictated by intense competition and the lack of other opportunities for growth.
The changes come as Wal-Mart -- the world's largest retailer with annual sales of more than $300 billion -- has Read more
The changes come as Wal-Mart -- the world's largest retailer with annual sales of more than $300 billion -- has Read more
News
June 13, 2006
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Police wearing riot gear moved into an urban Los Angeles community garden on Tuesday to evict tree-sitting celebrity Darryl Hannah, along with other campaigners trying to save it from destruction.
At least 25 immigrant farmers and their supporters were arrested on trespass charges, police said, but Hannah, an actress best known for playing a mermaid in "Splash," remained perched 40 feet up a walnut tree in the 14-acre (5.7-hectare) fruit and vegetable garden in gritty south Los Angeles.
In the past three weeks, folk singer Joan Baez and anti- Read more
At least 25 immigrant farmers and their supporters were arrested on trespass charges, police said, but Hannah, an actress best known for playing a mermaid in "Splash," remained perched 40 feet up a walnut tree in the 14-acre (5.7-hectare) fruit and vegetable garden in gritty south Los Angeles.
In the past three weeks, folk singer Joan Baez and anti- Read more
News
June 12, 2006
When one thinks of Fair Trade, coffee might percolate as an item on your socially- and environmentally-conscious shopping list.
But you wouldn't be erroneous if you slipped bananas into that Fair Trade mix either.
And a couple from Byrne Road, near Morell, recently wrapped up a three-month Canadian Crossroads International placement in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the West Indies helping banana growers to continue their progression into the Fair Trade market and organic production.
"I don't think I could pinpoint just one memory because the entire trip Read more
But you wouldn't be erroneous if you slipped bananas into that Fair Trade mix either.
And a couple from Byrne Road, near Morell, recently wrapped up a three-month Canadian Crossroads International placement in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the West Indies helping banana growers to continue their progression into the Fair Trade market and organic production.
"I don't think I could pinpoint just one memory because the entire trip Read more
News
March 28, 2006
These analyzes are in a corporate tracking database from AgInfoLink, Inc. and reflect current, actual real-life steps in the "chains" that are typical in today's food systems. Food tracking has not been done historically, but over the last 5 years, food traceability is increasing significantly because of food security and other issues.
This is a real example, and obviously does not include the other ingredients: MILES TRAVELED BY WHEAT FOR CAKE MIX Read more
This is a real example, and obviously does not include the other ingredients: MILES TRAVELED BY WHEAT FOR CAKE MIX Read more
News
June 4, 2006
If you live in the town of Athens in southeastern Ohio, there are politically correct reasons not to eat a California strawberry. Think of the pollution and the global warming caused by its transport. Think of the ascendancy of corporate agribusiness over family farms. Think of the loss of nutrients during a weeklong journey from soil to supermarket. But to Barbara Fisher, an Athens cooking teacher, there's a more primal motive for choosing a homegrown variety over the "beautiful, flavorless, plastic" kind shipped from California: "When people bite into ripe strawberries from a local farmer Read more
News
Sian Lewis, Jobs with Justice (202) 365-9122 walmart@jwj.org
Fred Azcarate, Jobs with Justice (202) 316-0236 fred@jwj.org
Thousands to "Quarantine" Wal-Mart as Hazardous to Community Health
WASHINGTON, DC shareholders meeting, thousands of concerned citizens in hazmat suits, face shields and rubber gloves will attempt to "quarantine" Wal-Mart locations across the country.
This "Bureau of Workers Health" organized by Jobs with Justice and the Ruckus Society will be armed with yellow caution tape, health hazard signs, and "Notices of Read more
News
May 28, 2006
EUGENE -- It would seem as natural a fit as brown rice and beans, but the proposed pairing of the city known for its green leanings and the company that made its name in all things organic is going over about as well as veal at a vegan dinner.
Whole Foods Market wants to open a 55,000-square-foot grocery store in downtown Eugene, an area that city leaders have struggled to revitalize for years, but a vocal contingent of locals says the natural foods giant isn't welcome.
Opponents fear Whole Foods, a publicly traded company with 184 stores across the country -- Read more
Whole Foods Market wants to open a 55,000-square-foot grocery store in downtown Eugene, an area that city leaders have struggled to revitalize for years, but a vocal contingent of locals says the natural foods giant isn't welcome.
Opponents fear Whole Foods, a publicly traded company with 184 stores across the country -- Read more
News
May 28, 2006
In a move that is directly contrary to recent trends in food trade, Maine's greenhouse vegetable production will nearly double with a 23-acre complex to be built in Madison. Greenhouse backers want to grow vine-ripened tomatoes for the regional Northeast market, where customers are hungry for tomatoes all year long.
The news that U.S. Functional Foods' tomato greenhouses will use 18 times as much electricity as all the residential consumers in the Madison Electric territory gives a sense of the scale that's involved.
Greenhouse production on this scale is nothing new in Read more
The news that U.S. Functional Foods' tomato greenhouses will use 18 times as much electricity as all the residential consumers in the Madison Electric territory gives a sense of the scale that's involved.
Greenhouse production on this scale is nothing new in Read more
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