Fair Trade Principle 4 - Payment of a Fair Price
Fair Trade is becoming a popular concept, but unless explored and seen in practice, it’s a hard concept to understand in depth. Seven Women supports and applies the principles of Fair Trade in the grass roots development project we have created. A fair price is one that has been mutually agreed on by all through dialogue and participation, which provides fair pay to the producers and can also be sustained by the market. Where Fair Trade pricing structures exist, these are used as a minimum.
Fair pay means provision of socially acceptable remuneration (in the local context) considered by producers themselves to be fair and which takes into account the principle of equal pay for equal work by women and men. Fair Trade marketing and importing organisations support capacity building as required to producers, to enable them to set a fair price.
Our producers have set the prices for the goods. The price of each item is made up of the cost of raw material used, the labour time involved and a 30% profit margin for the operation of the centre. This works for us at the organisational end of Seven Women, and for the women at the centre in Nepal.
Principle Five: Ensuring no Child Labour and Forced Labour, will feature in our next post.
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Byron - Seven Women, Melbourne