cmdrdeathguts said:
nike and so on mistreat their workers because they need to in order to keep their share price up - the larger a company, the more liberties they have to take, the more surplus value they must try to extract...taking your money elsewhere will simply be egging on another company into a situation where it must do the same as the company you're boycotting. it's entirely false. the problem isn't nike, the problem is capitalism.
many of these complaints don't apply to fairtrade, as fairtrade setups are generally charitable and so not quite as concerned with profit, and certainly not concerned with shareholders. however, this is a double edged sword - there is therefore not the same drive to lower prices as with a standard corporation, and so not the same accessibility to lower-income markets. fair-trade tea will in all probability never be that cheap, and the movement will always be a bit of a middle-class concern.
Yes, which is why i'd rather concentrate my efforts on actually achieving workers rights than pursuing entirely peripheral concerns like nike boycotts.
What frustrates me about the whole sweatshop/fair trade argument is misinformation. You see studies and rpeorts quoted that are over four years out of date. Four years is a very long time in S.E. Asia. Also campaigners do not have any access to the places they are protesting about.
Nike now pay their workers more than many other places do and the conditions in the factories that make their stuff are much better, they make high grade branded product and they need it to be like this or the stuff that gets churned out will be shit.
How do I know? I've been in a few factories that make their stuff. Things can change you know - a big worker shortage in the South of China is the thing that has made the most difference to conditions and salary, recently - salaries have gone up by a third to half. If they don't have good working, living conditions and a good canteen, they can't attract the workers they need.
Nike factories don't generally make only Nike anyway - I've worked at one - it also made Clarks and New Balance amongst other brands, so you can see the pointlessness of boycotting one or two brands then buying another.
Fairtrade clothing, hmm I'm not so sure about. I thought the Blackspot sneaker was a bit of a marketing thang, you could buy any shoe from any Portuguese factory and the worker conditions, unionisation and salaries would be the same, yet they were trumpeting their shoe like it was going to save the world or something. Personally, I think alot of fairtrade can be more about marketing to people who feel guilty than anything else.
I'd feel pretty daft wearing fair trade clothing, TBH, but I do buy fair trade coffee - does this make me a hypocrite?
