Jane Countryman of Monroe No. 1 BOCES paraprofessionals and Hermese Osbourne of the Hempstead Teaching Assistants Association show their support for fair trade chocolate.
How do you improve on a cup of coffee or a bar of chocolate? Make them fair trade.
"Look for the fair trade logo to ensure your purchases aren't made using child labor, that workers are paid a fair living wage and that producers follow environmentally friendly farming practices," said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi, highlighting a few advantages of fair trade products. Sample and purchase fair trade sweets at the NYSUT Internet Zone (see box below).
Last year, NYSUT partnered with the state Labor-Religion Coalition to launch the Fair Trade Project, a program to heighten consumer awareness. As part of the joint project, NYSUT and the LRC have paired with Dean's Beans and Equal Exchange, two U.S.-based companies with strong fair trade credentials.
Both companies have pledged to donate a percentage of each sale to the coalition when Internet purchasers enter the code word "NYSUT" at checkout. "This project has no losers," said Brian O'Shaughnessy, coalition director.
On Saturday, RA delegates will meet Esperanza Castillo, general manager of the Cooperative Agraria Cafetalera Pangoa, a 464-member coffee co-op in San Martin de Pangoa, Peru. Castillo will be joined by Dean Cycon, president of the Massachusetts-based Dean's Beans Organic Coffee Company. Cycon helped introduce Pangoa's fair trade coffee to the U.S. market several years ago. He arranged the importation of a 40,000 pound container of Pangoa coffee, pledging to purchase half for his company and guaranteeing the sale of the rest. "It was a gamble, but I knew once her story got out, others would buy," Cycon said.
That year Pangoa sold three of the containers: $1.41 per pound to a fair trade purchaser; 86 cents per pound to another; and 45 cents per pound to a third buyer. "It costs about 65 cents per pound to grow coffee," said Cycon, explaining that the disparity highlights the importance of the fair trade movement.