Conflict Reslution Case Study

 Case Study: Fair Trade 

Introduction 

Fairtrade is a concept that works in the favour of the working class and towards demolishing  the use of sweatshops. Sweatshops are factories that break the labour laws. The workers in  sweatshops work at very low wages, for long hours, in poor and illegal working conditions. A  large number of them are made to work together in confined spaces with little to no ventilation or lighting. They are also given extremely short or no breaks at all. Sweatshops  are widely used mainly by the clothing industry.  

Studies have found that not only do the workers in sweatshops work in poor conditions, but  they also are often not provided with their salaries, or their salaries are delayed. This becomes  difficult for the workers who have no savings and live hand to mouth. There have been  instances when the workers are made to work for 3 days straight without any sleep, which is  abuse.  

The most basic solution to this problem would be for the workers to quit working in  sweatshops and do something else, but it is not that simple. The workers come from outside  the city where their options are limited to agriculture which isn’t a steady source of income,  or they’re from the lower strata in the city whose other options include drug trade and  prostitution. These workers are uneducated which leaves them with very few job options.  

Fair trade is the concept of ensuring that whatever product is manufactured and supplied, it  done so by workers under healthy working conditions, along with sufficient wages.  Companies following this policy are provided with a certificate from Fair Trade USA( the  largest non-profit fairtrade organization). This enables them to write Fairtrade on their  products which can be identified by customers. Customers should check for this and buy  products that come under Fairtrade.  

Even after the introduction of the Fairtrade concept, sweatshops continue to exist in mass  quantities and they continue to thrive. 


People involved 

• Worker 

• Worker’s families 

• Manufacturing companies 

• General public 

Problems 

• Higher wages for workers mean higher prices of products 

• Fairtrade is not followed by everyone 

• Fairtrade companies often engage with unethical companies 

Solutions 

• Promote locally made, not mass-produced products. This will ensure better working  conditions and lower prices 

• The government should make Fairtrade compulsory for everyone 

• When Fairtrade is compulsory for everyone there will be no unethical companies left 

Limitations 

• Locally made doesn’t always assure better working conditions 

• The government might not make it a law

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