wfn.org | CHRISTIAN AID'S CAMPAIGN FOR FAIR TRADING SUCCESS

[Audrey Whitefield <a.whitefield@quest.org.uk>]

Oct. 31, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.10.5.4]

BRITAIN: CHRISTIAN AID'S CAMPAIGN FOR FAIR TRADING SUCCESS 

(ENI)Consumer power is forcing British supermarkets to insist on better
conditions for Third World workers, the international charity Christian
Aid reported this  month. A church in London collected  45,000 pounds
sterling  ($73,000) of cash register receipts and handed them back to
local supermarkets. This was just one of the churches and groups which
responded to Christian Aid's call to collect till receipts to show how
many people in Britain are concerned about the working conditions of
people around the world who produce the food they buy. The message, says
Christian Aid in its report - Change at the Check-out? - is clear: "If
the supermarkets want consumer loyalty, they must show loyalty to the
people who produce our food on the other side of the world." Christian
Aid, which is backed by most mainstream churches in the UK and Ireland
(with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church), combines an
extensive programme of grants in over 80 countries with vigorous
campaigning on issues like Third World debt, unfair trade practices and
reform of the World Bank and the  International Monetary Fund. A year
ago Christian Aid launched a campaign to persuade British supermarket
chains - the top 10 supermarket chains had a turnover of 53 billion
pounds (US$86 billion) in 1996 - to use their economic clout to improve
material conditions and ethical standards for food workers in the Third
World. It had uncovered many shameful cases:  Peruvian asparagus-pickers
receiving the equivalent of 2 US cents out of the $9.83 per kilo paid by
the consumer; Brazilian grape-pickers suffering from pesticide-linked
illnesses while getting less than 4 cents per lb (0.45 kg) although
consumers pay $2.13; Sri Lankan tea workers receiving only 7 per cent of
the price paid by the consumer.  After a year of campaigning, Christian
Aid has found that seven of the top 10 British supermarket chains,
including the biggest, Tesco, have adopted ethical sourcing policies.
Six are drawing up codes of conduct and have agreed to external
verification.  Change at the Check-out? warns that without further
steps, "codes of conduct will become little more than a PR [public
relations] exercise, fancy words for business as usual". Michael Taylor,
director of Christian Aid, said: "We want people to be able to walk off
the street into any supermarket and buy their food, confident that it
has been produced without exploitation." Britain's top 10 chains were
asked 12 questions about their ethical trading policies, and the
answers were evaluated by independent specialists including Richard
Harries, the (Anglican) Bishop of Oxford. The biggest surprise was that
the clothing and food group Marks &Spencer, seen in Britain as a byword
for fair trading and high standards, was one of three companies that did
not answer the questionnaire.  However, Marks & Spencer told Christian
Aid of "the care we take in our approach to the procurement of St
Michael [its own brand label] merchandise, in particular the work we
have been doing with our supply base in achieving high standards of
staff welfare and rewards". The highest-ranking supermarkets in terms of
ethical trading were the two biggest chains, Tesco and Sainsbury's,
together with fourth-biggest, Safeway.  In order to improve conditions
for Third World workers, Christian Aid says it places freedom of
association - the right to join a trade union - at the top of priorities
for its model code of conduct for suppliers to British supermarkets.