Auckland, not fair enough | Auckland News | Local News in Auckland

If you're buying presents this Christmas, Sam Drumm hopes they're Fair Trade.

That can be a bit tough to do in Auckland, which lags behind Wellington and Dunedin, which are already official Fair Trade cities. To become one, Auckland would have to have one Fair Trade outlet per 5000 inhabitants.

Drumm, his team of five staff plus 15 volunteers, have been working to achieve that for more than a year through their campaign, Make Auckland Fairtrade (MAFT), aiming to line up 280 Fair Traders.

"A provider can be a shop selling products with Fair Trade certification, such as bananas, coffee or sports gear," says Drumm, a community worker.

We meet him at one such cafe. The 25-year-old tells us about all the supermarkets that sell Fair Trade wine and coffee now.

"We think we're almost there," he says. "There are 240 providers we're sure of."

MAFT has been invited to the Auckland Economic Forum in February next year, which is a big step in achieving its goals. The Fair Trade association has to inspect every provider to award the Fair Trade status.

Drumm says it is important to get companies to support the idea and to engage the public's interest.

"Workplaces should have their coffee, tea and sugar with the Fair Trade seal for example," he says.

Drumm says he tries to practise a Fair Trade lifestyle. "I don't proclaim to be perfect but, if I have the choice, I try to buy Fair Trade.

"My house and my workplace are Fair Trade zones."

He spent a year in East Timor and saw the rough deals producers endured. "I saw the reality. The coffee producers there got a very low price for their products. It wasn't possible to live off it."

That's when he decided to promote the idea of what is a fair trade method and what is not fair or right.

He heard many positive stories about how banana producers are benefiting in developing countries through the concept of Fair Trade. "We can actually change something."

He says it's a good tool to deliver benefits to producer communities.

"It's all about what's the ethical thing to do and having the choice."

He says that choice can make the lives of thousands of hard-working workers in developing countries less rough.

In other parts of the world having Fair Trade status is commonplace.

The movement began in 2001 in Britain and there are more than 500 Fair Trade cities in Europe.

All of Wales is Fair Trade.

Drumm thinks Auckland will get there. "We just need a bit longer to move down that track."

He believes it's absolutely possible to change the whole trading market through buying Fair Trade products.

"I don't expect a miracle overnight," he says, hoping that like Wales, the whole of New Zealand will one day be a Fair Trade nation.

Sites
Make Auckland Fair Trade
Fair Trade Assn of Australia and NZ

FAIR TRADE?
- Fair Trade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. It requires companies to pay sustainable prices to producers instead of discriminating against the poorest, weakest producers. That allows them to improve their position.

- More than half of Kiwi consumers say they trust the Fair Trade brand.
- Ninety-one per cent of NZers think companies dealing with farmers and workers in poor countries should pay them fairly.
 - Oxfam has a list of Fair Traders in NZ.
- TradeAid.org.nz has an online store and wants people to Give Good Gifts this Christmas.

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