Emphasizing the following could transform the 'fair trade' label into something more meaningful.


1. Absolute Transparency

Publish exact locations and make your workers accessible to market conditions, including the names of your brokers.  (Alternately, the 'fair trade' organization could keep the names of these brokers to monitor compliance.)  List any claimed benefits to workers in detail or give exact dollar amounts.

Caveat-  This demands an ethical business model based on respect for companies who create and develop.  In other words, companies that are mere brokers of product must be careful of where they source, and how quickly they accept someone as 'fair trade'. Stamping someone 'fairtrade' who just copies another product eventually destroys the market and the label. 

2. Upward Mobility

A safe salary should cover more than just the need for survival.  A worker earning basic 'fair trade' rates could lose everything with just a small but serious medical problem.  The label should encourage and distinguish companies that are able to move wages higher or cover medical expenses, or both.  Higher wages help stimulate the local market much more efficiently than foreign aid, in many cases and are much less vulnerable to corruption.  Higher wages also stimulate the classes necessary to encourage democratic reform.  Rich countries should support this form of trade over all other because it helps build a popular democratic base as well.

3. Quality - An emphasis on quality over cheap handicraft.

This helps sustain an upward bias on wages and improves worker self esteem along with their bottom line.
Making cheap, easily duplicated handicraft offers little real future for workers, and in fact may encourage a downward bias on workers' welfare.

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