Jim Hollyman - "Bolton a Fairtrade Town ?"

These are notes from the talk by Jim Hollyman of the Faitrade Campaign taken directly from the Deane-Cum-Heaton Labour Party's Branch minutes.

Jim, from the Fairtrade Campaign, addressed the meeting. He said that the idea of Bolton becoming a Fairtrade Town had been around for a while and had been mentioned in several recent Bolton Evening News articles.

The practical effects of Fairtrade are being felt with 2,500 groups in the UK supporting the idea. There has been a 20% increase in the sales of Fairtrade items, helped a great deal by the Fairtrade fortnight in March. However, Fairtrade still represents a tiny proportion of goods sold and is alone dwarfed by Nestlés' £25 million spend on advertising.

At present the retailers in the western world are the part of the supply chain making the most profit. The producers and especially the third world farmers are very poorly paid for the goods they supply. Fairtrade's objective is to reverse this and ensure a better deal for farmers and third world producers.

Jim said that some coffee growers earn only $20 - 70 per annun and one of the main aims of Fairtrade is to ensure that producers get a fair price for their products.

Small farmers can also not afford the fertilizers and pesticides used by large scale producers. But this is not such a bad thing, since their experience of using such chemicals without proper protection was to suffer severe side effects - many farmers' children have been born with severe deformities. Additionally, their size means that they are not as able to "stand up to" the large buyers of their goods as are the big producers. Fairtrade aims to give practical help to deal with these and many other issues.

Locally the objective is to persuade Bolton to adopt Fairtrade town status and Jim listed the five main goals of a Fairtrade town as follows:

       Local council passes a resolution supporting Fairtrade, and agrees to serve Fairtrade coffee and tea at its meetings and in its offices and canteens.
      A range of Fairtrade products are readily available in the area's shops, and served in at least two (or four if a city) local cafés/catering establishments.
      Fairtrade products are used by at least 10 (or 20 if a city) local businesses and organisations.
      Attract media coverage and popular support for the campaign.
      A local Fairtrade steering group is convened to ensure continued commitment to its Fairtrade Town status.

Anne asked a question about monitoring Fairtrade towns. Jim confirmed that this is done and although Bolton is not (yet) a Fairtrade town, as a group they are continuing to urge Bolton Metro to consider Fairtrade principles and if possible become a Fairtrade town. Bob said that at executive level the authority is looking into the various departments to see whether or not the Fairtrade objectives can be met and he agreed to report back on this. The hope is that Bolton, Britain's largest town, can join Gartstang (the first Fairtrade town) in this endeavour.

Anne asked another question about the work that Fairtrade might have done with the ethnic minority community in Bolton. Jim said that Margaret Johnson has been dealing with this and has had some success. Anne pointed out that the ethnic minority community often has links with third world producers.

Terry had been to a meeting at Mere Hall, Bolton and the question of the prices in Justicia (a Fairtrade outlet), which were regarded as very high had been raised. He still believed that even with Fairtrade products the retailers are making much more than the producers.

The coffee trade in particular was referred to and it was claimed that even if they sell their products in the "ethical market" they still do not get a fair price but they are at least better than from the huge multi-nationals.

Terry queried whether or not the actual workers were seeing the benefits of "ethical trading". He still believed that the rich were getting richer and that the people who toil in the fields and plantations are not seeing any significant benefit. This view was not completely accepted.

It was pointed out that a number of producers are being supported by Christian Aid and they are monitoring the effects of "ethical trade". There are suggestions that benefits are being seen.

Craig mentioned a visit to Ethiopia he had made and commented on Justicia locally. He said that their shop in Bolton is rented from the Church at a nominal rent and has two paid workers - a Shop Manager and a Development Manager (Margaret Johnson). All the other work is carried out by volunteers. There are similar enterprises in other towns working under the names Trade Craft, Christian Aid, Tear Fund, Oxfam and World Development Movement. They share many common aims and are all Fairtrade shops.

Bob was asked about twinning and the possibility of doing so with an Indian or other "third world" town. He agreed that this is one of a number of possibilities.

In response to a question about the quality of "Café Direct", which was described as being "dreadful", Jim said that this had been a recognised problem in the past but great improvements have been made and it's now as good as any of the recognised "big brands".

Graham asked who the beneficiaries of Fairtrade are, the workers or the owners. Jim replied that most of the producers are small-scale owner/workers and Fairtrade directly benefits the families of such people, who are usually workers too. By combining into co-operatives these small scale owner/workers can begin to be able to stand up to the buyers of their products.

Jim was sincerely thanked for his talk and for participating in the discussion that followed.

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