Chelmsford Fairtrade Town Campaign

 

 

 

THE STANDING COMMITTEE

The Standing Committee elected at the 2006 AGM was: Malcolm Burgess (Chairman), Bill Grieve (Treasurer), Tony Bender, Ray Le Couteur, Malcolm Wallace and Michael Whalley. Elizabeth Marshall and Gill Parker joined the Committee during the year. Others who have attended in order to assist us in planning activities were Mervyn Marshall and Rachel Hewings. Since the 2006 AGM the Standing Committee has met on seven occasions. The total membership of the Campaign is 40.

 

We are pleased to record that our Fairtrade Town status was renewed in January 2007 and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all those individuals, organisations, workplaces, faith communities, political parties and companies who, through their activities during the year, helped to make this possible. We would also like to thank Christ Church and Chelmsford Star Co-operative Society for their support for providing meeting rooms and photocopying, and KDS Print for printing our first formal newsletter. The Committee wishes to place on record its thanks for the support given to us by Chelmsford Borough Council, its staff and Councillor Philip Wilson. Councillor Tony Sach took over responsibility as the Borough Council’s liaison officer from Cllr. Wilson in October. We are sorry to record that Bill Grieve will not be standing again for Office as Treasurer. We would like to thank Bill for all his work on the Committee since we were established.

 

The Committee congratulated Anglia Ruskin University on achieving Fairtrade status during the year.

The number of those using or selling Fairtrade in Chelmsford is as follows: 

Retail outlets 35

Catering outlets 17

Faith groups 35

Employers 23

Community groups and workplaces 17

Schools/colleges 18

Parish Councils 4

Since our last Annual Report we are pleased to say that the following have been added to our list of those using or selling Fairtrade products:

Booker (Cash and Carry) 2 Hanbury Road.

Julian Graves, 14 Exchange Way.

LIDL, Princes Road. 

Rusts, 82, Forest Drive.

Somerfield, Rainsford Road.

SWL Supplies, Gourmet Market, High Street.

Tesco, Duke Street.

Bottoms Up, 7 Rainsford Road.

Chelmsford College.
Thresher, 257 Broomfield Road.

Chelmsford Theatre Workshop, The Old Court Theatre, 233 Springfield Road.

Costa, Tesco Home Care, Parkway.

Essex County Association of Trades Councils.

Danbury Mission, Danbury, Chelmsford. Tel. 01245 227428. (NEW)

St. Andrew’s Church, Boreham.

Parish Councils (East Hanningfield, Galleywood, Great Waltham, Writtle).

 

OUR ACTIVITIES

During the past twelve months members of the Committee have addressed meetings at Thundersley (Co-operative Party), Billericay Town Council (at which the Council agreed to use Fairtrade), St. Luke's Church, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association Weekend School, and the Chelmsford Unitarian One World Week event.

 

We provided Fairtrade promotional material and sold our badges and car window stickers at the Christ Church Cookery and Gala evening, Moulsham High School Fayre, Chelmsford TUC May Rally, the Volunteer Celebrations, the showing of “Black Gold” and two events at Anglia Ruskin University. We wrote to every parish council in the Borough asking them to use Fairtrade, and four agreed to do so. In conjunction with Christ Church, we held a "Fairtrade Cook for Change" Competition and Gala Evening and we would like to thank Rachel Hewings for her efforts in making it a success. Members of the Committee also participated in the Trade Justice event organised by Oxfam. We placed a poster at Booker Cash and Carry

to encourage small businesses to use Fairtrade A member of the Committee attended the National Fairtrade Day in London on 29 September. Arising from this we publicised the new Fairtrade School Award scheme on our websites and contacted all the local schools by e-mail. We have ongoing correspondence with Broomfield Hospital.

 

Working in conjunction with Chelmsford Star Co-operative Society we organised two showings of the film “Black Gold”. 98 people attended the first showing and 61 the matinee.

 

In conjunction with Oxfam we held a Conference at Christ Church on 24^th October.

The theme was “Essex, a Fairtrade County?” and the guest speaker was Penny

Newman, CEO Cafédirect. Rachel Hewings organised a Traidcraft stall and all the

Essex Groups were invited.

 

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT

Fairtrade Fortnight was held from 26 February – 11 March. As Chelmsford Borough Council no longer has a promotional van we held a Fairtrade poster exhibition and information table in the Public Area of Chelmsford Library. We worked closely with Chelmsford Star Co-operative Society organising its Fairtrade Friendly competition for schools; the winners were Thriftwood School and KEGS. Our Chairman, Malcolm Burgess, spoke at the prize-giving evening in the Quadrant. We were particularly delighted that a Fairtrade producer, Quispe Casildo, President of the Coinacapa Bolivian nut gatherers co-operative, was present and also in attendance was the Mayor of Chelmsford.

 

During Fairtrade Fortnight a total of 15 Fairtrade groups held approximately 20 events. We would like to thank them for all their efforts. We have not covered these in our Report, but they will be included in our formal application for Fairtrade Town status in 2008.  

 

COMMUNICATIONS, THE MEDIA AND PUBLICITY

During the year we have regularly updated our Chelmsford Fairtrade website and our Forum website. Unfortunately, the number of contributors to the Forum is less than we would like. We hope you will endeavour to make a contribution in the coming months.

 

We have sent out a number of e-mails to our contacts promoting events and copies of the minutes have been placed on the Forum website. Copies of our minutes have been sent to Councillor Philip Wilson, Councillor Tony Sach, and Lee Taylor, Cabinet Support Officer at ECC.

 

A report of every meeting has been sent to the Essex Chronicle’s Community News and placed on the Chelmsford Fairtrade website. Fairtrade supporters’ events, Standing Orders, our Constitution and the Fairtrade Town Application can also be seen on the Fairtrade Town website.

 

We have used the Fairtrade Foundation’s website, local press and radio to promote our activities, and two interviews took place with Dream FM. Several photo shots have been held in conjunction with our events and a number of press releases issued; these have been used in the regional and local media.

 

A number of supporting organisations promoted Fairtrade to their members during the year and we are grateful for this additional coverage. These include Chelmsford Volunteering, Mid Essex NUT, Essex Matters and the TSSA Journal. We have passed Chelmsford Borough Council new information on Fairtrade for their website. In October, Chelmsford Star Co-operative Party kindly gave us a significant donation which enabled us to purchase a promotional banner. We would like to thank their members for their support and donation.

 

 

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Chelmsford Fairtrade Town Campaign held on 20 November 2007

at Christ Church, New London Road.

 

PRESENT: Malcolm Burgess (Chairman) and fifteen others.

 

APOLOGIES: Bill Grieve (Treasurer), Michael Whalley, Chris Fegan, Elizabeth Marshall.

 

The Chairman welcomed everyone and formally opened the meeting. He outlined some of the activities that had taken place throughout the year and thanked everyone for the progress made in promoting Fairtrade. He told members that Anglia Ruskin University had been awarded Fairtrade status during 2007 and it had just been announced that Harlow had become a Fairtrade Town. As a result we are on the way to establishing Essex as a Fairtrade County.

 

MINUTES OF THE 2006 AGM: these were accepted as a true record. There were no matters arising.

 

ANNUAL REPORT 2006 – 2007: the Chairman introduced the report and made reference to some of its key features. The use of Fairtrade at Broomfield Hospital was raised during the discussion and it is hoped that this will become a standard feature within the Trust by April 2008. It was noted that although the company SWL has withdrawn its stall in the High Street, more Fairtrade users are entering the market place all the time. Members were asked to keep us advised of any new retailers or organisations that are using Fairtrade. It was pointed out that all our reports and events can be seen on our website and/or on the Forum website.

 

The showing of the film Black Gold was raised and Chelmsford Star was thanked for sponsoring the evening. It was unfortunate that the projectionist had not been aware that there were two films on the system used, and that the wrong one had been shown. Action was immediately taken and everything went well on the second day. To compensate, Chelmsford Star will be offering a free showing to those that had attended the first evening, and this will be at the Cramphorn Theatre during Fairtrade Fortnight

 

The availability of Fairtrade footballs was raised. It was noted that they are currently being sold in Oxfam shops. Although all our 

reports had been published in Essex Chronicle’s Community News and we do get a reasonable coverage during Fairtrade Fortnight, 

some concern was expressed that the media has lost interest in Fairtrade as it had become "mainstream". It was proposed that 

organisers of events might consider innovative ideas to assist in obtaining publicity. The Annual Report was approved.

FINANCIAL REPORT: This showed that we had received £82 in subscriptions and £50 in donations. We had sold stickers, badges 

and directories to the amount of £105.70. Our surplus for the year was £173.43 and our bank / cash balance is £774.20. 

It was noted that our Treasurer, Bill Grieve, is retiring from Office and the Chairman thanked him for his excellent record of service 

to our Campaign since its launch.

A discussion took place on the funding of other Fairtrade groups and although this was a complex issue, it was noted that some 

Councils, regardless of their political colour, had been extremely helpful by sponsoring directories, supplying clerical staff and 

publicising their local Fairtrade group in leaflets and magazines. During the discussion Chelmsford Co-operative Party was thanked 

by the Chairman for paying for our new promotional banner. The Report was approved.

ELECTIONS: 

Chairman: Malcolm Burgess, elected.

Treasurer: David Parker, elected.

The following were elected to the Standing Committee: Malcolm Wallace, Ray Le Couteur, Michael Whalley, Tony Bender, 

Gill Parker, Elizabeth Marshall, Catherine Shiner.

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT

A number of ideas were raised and it was noted that Fairtrade churches are obliged to carry out some activity during Fairtrade 

Fortnight if they are to retain their status. It was suggested that Chelmsford City might be persuaded to become involved in an event. 

The Standing Committee has already booked space for an exhibition in the public square of Chelmsford Library and discussions 

have taken place with Councillor Sach on other possible opportunities. Organisations were asked to tell us about any events being 

planned so that they can be promoted through the website. 

GUEST SPEAKER:

Katy Wheeler, a student at Colchester University, who is doing a PhD on a Fairtrade Town with Chelmsford as the basis of her study, 

then gave the talk below on the History of Consumer Activism.

After some discussion the Chairman thanked Katy for her excellent talk. Christ Church was thanked for allowing us to use the meeting room and the Chairman closed the meeting at 8.40pm.

 

 

Katy Wheeler, Sociology PhD Student, University of Essex

 

I am carrying out a qualitative study in Chelmsford in order to understand how consumers understand the fairtrade choice in an established fairtrade town.  I am looking for Fairtrade consumers to participate in either a group or individual interview.  Please contact me for more information if you live in Chelmsford and would be interested to take part (Email: kmwhee@essex.ac.uk

Tel: 07968 993164)

 

 Consumer Activism 1791-2007

 

Many people think that fairtrade is a new type of consumer activity and, whilst in many ways we can understand fairtrade as a response to increasingly global and impersonal supply chains, it is important not to forget the historical precedents to this type of action.

 

Our history begins in 1791 in Britain following the Parliament’s rejection of a bill to abolish slavery.  A Quaker-led campaign was launched which urged the people to boycott slave-grown sugar.  At the height of this campaign around 300,000 people were avoiding slave-grown sugar with the hope that individuals could challenge the economic imperative for slavery.  In order to mobilise the consumer to care about the politics of the products they consumed, the public were provided with pamphlets which told of the evils of slavery:

 

“The slave trade is a chain of wretchedness, every link of which is stained with blood! and it involves with equal criminality THE AFRICAN TRADER-THE WEST INDIA SLAVE HOLDER-AND THE BRITISH CONSUMER!” (Allen, p7-8, cited in Sussman, 2000: 40)

 

We can see in the quote above how the consumer was made directly responsible for the slave’s suffering.  There was increasingly a demand for sugar produced by the labour of freemen and the East Indian sugar market grew as a direct result of this:

 

“BENJAMIN TRAVERS, Sugar-Refiner, acquaints the Publick that he has now an assortment of Loaves, Lumps, Powder Sugar, and Syrup, ready for sale… produced by the labour of FREEMEN.” (Hochschild, 2005: 194)

 

We can see a parallel here of fairtrade today with a demand for an alternative product produced under fairer conditions.

 

In America, some 30 years later and on a much smaller scale, there existed the ‘Free produce movement’ which consisted of a small number of abolitionist shopkeepers who provided a ‘free labour’ alternative.  The first free produce store was opened in 1826 in Baltimore and sold a variety of goods – such as soap, clothing, confectionary – all produced by the labour of freemen.  The movement was not altogether successful however, and experienced some difficulty persuading consumers to buy more expensive, often lower quality goods for the ‘sake of the slave’ (see Glickman, 2004; 2006).  Additionally, it should be noted that the line between free and unfree labour was at this time not clearly defined so the movement could be criticised on this basis.  Nevertheless, encouraging consumers to a make a ‘free labour’ choice can still be seen as an important precedent of fairtrade today. 

 

We see a similar form of ‘buycott’ activity in the National Consumers’ Leagues of the 19^th Century.  The term ‘buycott’ means actively choosing to purchase one product over another, as opposed to avoiding products – the boycott (see Freidman, 1999).  The National Consumers’ Leagues were female-led movements that formed all over Europe and in the USA and one of their key achievements was the creation of white lists.  The white list indicated which local businesses and retail outlets operated according to socially acceptable standards (such as fair working hours and payment for staff).  The first white list was produced in Britain in 1887 by Ms. Clementina Black who was head of the women’s Trade Association and she published a list of fair dressmakers, milliners, shirtmakers and upholsterers (see Black, 1887).  In the US consumer’s league, under the direction of Florence Kelley, the white list evolved into the white label.

 

 

This label was attached to women’s undergarments and came to stand for no child labour or forced overtime and adherence to state factory law (Sklar, 1998).   The Consumers’ Leagues gave the opportunity to women to gain a voice in the public sphere, to perform acts of citizenship before they had the right to vote.  The activities of the Consumers’ Leagues continued until the 1^st World War and then started to fizzle out with the death of several of the key figures and the hardship of the war.  But this early labelling system is a very important pre-cursor to fairtrade today. 

 

Perhaps the most important consumer movement of the 19^th and 20^th Centuries was the Co-operative Movement.  Many of you will be familiar with this movement given its longevity and continued support for fairtrade.  The Co-operative movement was a movement born out of necessity that sought to challenge “an increasingly individualistic, market-oriented and competitive mode of production/consumption in Eighteenth-century England” (Gurney, 1996: 12).  The collective association of producers and consumers was devised as a way of keeping the price of staples and basic goods down but more widely as an opportunity to bring about a new social order based on the principles of cooperation.  And with Trade Unions and Co-operative stores working together “the citizens [could be] organised as consumers and the workers organised as producers” as Beatrice Potter famously stated (Potter, 1891: 198).   Peter Gurney (1996) argues that the Co-operative movement was particularly important because it sought to build a cultural revolution that would realise the transformative potential of the movement.  Whilst the vision of creating a new society based on the principles of co-operation, a “new co-operative commonwealth”, was not shared by all members of the co-op – who probably adopted a more flexible approach to their consumption and shopped at the Co-op for some things and department stores for others – the fact that there was an attempt to integrate the economy into the social world of the people was important.  By providing lectures, coffee mornings, reading rooms and festivals the loyalty of co-op shoppers was secured.  We see an attempt to integrate the economy into the social life of the people in the fairtrade movement today with their ‘Fairtrade Towns’ initiative which links local activities with the wider aims of the movement.   

The decline of the Co-operative movement came in the post-2^nd World War era when the allures of mass consumer society and the luxury of a new world of consumer goods emerged.  The Co-operative movement that was born out of necessity had some trouble adjusting to this new market.  Having said this, in recent years we have seen a revival of the Co-op given its stance on ethical trading. 

 

Just briefly before I finish my discussion of early consumer movements, I want to consider the value for money movement.  Whilst this is the movement that developed into one that gave only best buy advice and ignored all of the social aims of movements before it, it has been argued that this movement began as a way of rebuilding Britain after the war through the dialogue between consumers and producers (Hilton, 2003).  Also it was a movement that aimed to promote consumer rights and to protect people from being duped by advertising and sub-standard products.  The consumer rights focus has remained the most dominant form of consumer politics in society to this day. 

         

Interestingly the format of this movement’s publication, Which?, has been used by The Ethical Consumer magazine.  However, the ‘best buy’ advice in this magazine does not refer to price and value but instead to issues of fair trade, animal testing and environmental concerns.  

 

This brief history of early consumer movements has I hope impressed upon all of you how long consumption and politics have gone hand-in-hand and how long consumption has been used as a mechanism for social and political change.  In the time I have remaining I want to introduce you to some of the academic debates around the fairtrade concept rather than discuss what fairtrade is (as I’m sure you already know!). 

         

Whilst fairtrade is interesting to a number of different academic disciplines such as marketing sociology, psychology, economics, and anthropology, I think it is possible to say that there are 2 main focuses of this research.  The main areas of academic interest in fairtrade are

·        The implementation of fairtrade on the ground

·        The understanding of fairtrade by consumers

The latter of these is my main area of interest, but I will give you a brief overview of the former.

 

Research interested in the implementation of fairtrade in the ground for the most part involves studies where authors have assessed the benefits of fairtrade for the farmers and the way that policy is implemented by all the key players.  So it involves interviewing and spending time with fairtrade co-operatives, those people who work for the body that certifies producer and those people responsible for commercially buying fairtrade (see Jaffee, 2007).  For example, there is a growing body of research which has looked at some of the possible problems of mainstreaming fairtrade and whether it is in fact possible to align the aims of the fairtrade movement with the demand for high volumes from supermarket-retailers (see Barrientos and Smith, 2007; Raynolds, 2007).  There has also been work on producer empowerment and in particular how traditional gender roles are being challenged now that women are sometimes earning more than their husbands (Smith and Dolan, 2006; Prieto-Carrón, 2006). 

 

But what I am particularly interested in is how far consumers understand the fairtrade concept.  There is an agreement however that understanding consumer motivations is very difficult given the fact that professed support for the aims of fairtrade does not always end in purchase.  So people do tend to agree, when asked, that supporting Third World producers is important but then they don’t always do so by buying fairtrade.  A study commission by the Co-op on all ethical consumption (not just fairtrade) called this the 30: 3 syndrome:

 

“This is the phenomenon in which a third of consumers profess to care about companies’ policies and records on social responsibility, but ethical products rarely achieve more than a 3% market share” (Cowe and Williams, 2001)

 

So this is a huge problem for research into ethical consumers.  Research that has been carried out on fairtrade consumers to date is very limited with the majority of research looking at ethical consumers in general.  Of this research, it has been found that people who shop ethically do so because they feel the need to maintain a sense of personal integrity (Newholm, 2005).  However little is known about people who don’t buy ethical products.  So there is a gap in existing research that I hope to fill with your help. I intend to carry out a qualitative study of consumers in a fairtrade town and I am looking for fairtrade consumers to participate in either a group or individual interview.  Please contact me for more information if you live in Chelmsford and would be interested to take part (Email: kmwhee@essex.ac.uk Tel: 07968 993164).

 

References

Barrientos, S. & Smith, S. (2007) ‘Mainstreaming fair Trade in global production networks’, in L. Raynolds, D. Murray & J. Wilkinson

(eds.) Fair Trade: The Challenges of transforming globalisation, London: Routledge.

Black, C. (1887) ‘Caveat Emptor’, in Longman’s Magazine, Vol. 10(58): 409-420.

Cowe, R. & Williams, S. (2001) Who are the Ethical Consumers? Manchester: Cooperative Bank.

Friedman, M. (1999) Consumer Boycotts: Effecting Change Through the Marketplace and the Media, London: Routledge.

Glickman, L. (2004) ‘Buy for the sake of the slave: Abolitionism and the origins of American Consumer Activism’, in American Quarterly,

Vol. 56(4): 889-912.

Glickman, L. (2006) ‘Through the Medium of Their Pockets: Sabbatarianism, Free Produce, Non Intercourse and the Significance of

‘Early Modern’ Consumer Activism’, in in A. Chatriot, M. Chessel & M. Hilton (eds.) The Expert Consumer: Associations and Professionals

in Consumer Society, Hants: Ashgate.

Gurney, P. (1996) Co-operative Culture and the Politics of Consumption in England, 1870-1930, Manchester: Manchester University

Press.

Hilton, M. (2003) Consumerism in 20th-Century Britain, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hochschild, A. (2005) Bury the Chains: the British struggle to abolish slavery, London: MacMillan.

Jaffee, D. (2007) Brewing Justice, Berkeley: Uni of California Press.

Newholm, T. (2005) ‘Case Studying Ethical Consumers’ Projects and Strategies’, in R. Harrison et al (eds) The Ethical Consumer,

London: Sage.

Potter, B. (1891/1987) The Co-operative Movement in Great Britain, Hants: Gower Publishing.

Prieto-Carrón, M (2006) ‘Central American Banana Production: Women workers and Chiquita’s Ethical Sourcing from Plantations’, in S. Barrientos & C. Dolan (eds.) Ethical Sourcing in the Global Food System, London: Earthscan. 

Raynolds, L. (2007) ‘Fair Trade Bananas: broadening the movement and the market in the US’, in L. Raynolds, D. Murray & J. Wilkinson

(eds.) Fair Trade: The Challenges of transforming globalisation, London: Routledge.

Sklar, K. K. (1998) ‘The Consumers’ White Label Campaign of the National Consumers League, 1898-1918’, in S. Strasser et al (eds.)

Getting and Spending, Washington: Cambridge University Press.

Smith, S. & Dolan, C. (2006) ‘Ethical Trade: What does it mean for Women Workers in African Horticulture’, in S. Barrientos & C. Dolan (eds.) Ethical Sourcing in the Global Food System, London: Earthscan. 

Sussmann, C. (2000) Consuming Anxieties: Consumer Protest, Gender, and British Slavery, 1713-1833, Stanford: Stanford University

Press.