Creating a Sweatfree World Ethical Consumerism
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Ethical Consumerism
En EspañolAmerican consumers have a long history of acting in support of the rights of workers who produce the goods they wear and consume. From the turn of the 20th century efforts to develop a union label for consumers to the organized student anti-sweatshop movement of the 1990’s, US social movements have laid critical groundwork for advancing ethical consumerism in the 21st century.
Certified flowers:
The Fairness in Flowers Campaign collaborates with NGO and union partners in the Andean countries as well as in Europe and Africa, and works to educate US consumers and promote both voluntary and legal approaches to improvements in this industry.
In 1998, the Flower Campaign (a coalition of European NGOs) and the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers proposed an International Code of Conduct (ICC) for the Production of Cut Flowers. The ICC has been used as the basis of a few certification programs, including Fair Flowers Fair Plants (FFP) and the Flower Label Program (FLP). ILRF has been participating in the meetings of the FFP Review Committee since 2005. For now, FFP and FLP certified flowers are only available in the European market.
In the United States, certified flowers have only recently become available. ILRF has been involved in a dialogue with Scientific Certification Systems since 2005 to help ensure that the labor standards in the new Veriflora cut flower certification program are as strong as possible. TransFair USA’s fair trade flowers may soon be on the shelves as well. We encourage consumers to choose to buy flowers certified by these programs, to help provide an incentive for more employers to provide safer and fairer working conditions in the producing countries.
We Need Your Help!
Support ILRF with a donation to help fight against the exploitation of workers around the world.
Shop with a Conscience Consumer Guide
Look for something special? The 2007-08 Shop with a Conscience Consumer Guide is filled with excellent products made in good working conditions.
About the Photo
Workers are preparing balls to be shipped based on orders
Credit: Manfred Elfstrom
Sweatshop Hall of Shame
The Sweatshop Hall of Shame features apparel companies that have consistently flouted labor laws and basic worker protections. Most, if not all, of the companies listed in this year’s Hall of Shame pay workers poverty wages for long, hard hours of work under appalling conditions.
Fairness in Flowers
Action is needed to stop Dole from a repeat of what happened to workers of Splendor when they tried to bargain for a contract. Dole has a chance to redeem itself by respecting worker rights. Send an email to Dole demanding they negotiate in good faith with the Fragancia workers.