In 2000 Choice Organic Teas became the first tea crafter to adopt Fair Trade Certified tea in the United States. Fair Trade certification addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest workers in economically developing or third-world countries. (Products from economically developed countries such as Japan and the United States cannot qualify for Fair Trade certification).
Today, more than half of Choice Organic Teas’ offerings (and 100% of the teas sold by Trade as One) are Fair Trade Certified, far surpassing the numbers of any other tea company in the United States.
On many traditional estates, tea workers live on the estate and toil long, hard hours for extremely low wages. The development of Fair Trade Certified tea standards guarantees fair wages, respectable living and working conditions, and a worker-managed premium. This premium represents additional funds, which are paid by Fair Trade registered importers like Choice Organic Teas directly to tea workers. It empowers them to improve their own lives. The workers collectively decide how they wish to manage the Fair Trade funds.
Different communities choose to use the Fair Trade premium in different and creative ways. Here are some examples of the opportunities and changes that sales of fair trade teas have brought:.
Empowering women:
The women who pluck tea on the Korakundah Tea Estate, in the famed Nilgiri region of India, use the funds received from Fair Trade premiums to help support themselves upon retirement. Now, retired tea pluckers receive a monthly pension and funds to help build a home when they return to settle in their native villages.
The Next Generation:
Workers at the United Nilgiri Tea Estate in India chose to use funds received from Fair Trade premiums to purchase a school bus, allowing students to continue their education through the 12th grade. Previously, children who lived in the neighboring village amid hilly terrain were able to attend school only at a local elementary school. But due to their deep poverty, there was no money for transportation, and the children could not attend any advanced grades. Now, local children are bussed to a school where they are taught both English and the local Tamil language.
Social Empowerment:
The tea workers at the Koslanda Tea Estate, in Sri Lanka, have voted to use Fair Trade premiums to provide their community with low interest loans that would otherwise be unattainable. Households have purchased propane stovetops, eliminating hours of collecting firewood, improving the indoor air quality of their homes, and preventing deforestation of the surrounding area. The purchase of sewing machines has meant a diversification of income.
Emergency Assistance:
The tea estate workers who produce our organic white teas have chosen to use their premium to provide scholarships to estate children who want to attend university. The premiums also are dispensed to tea workers and their families in need of emergency surgery beyond the means of the local estate hospital.
Continuing Education:
The workers with the Bergandal Boerdery collective who harvest native Rooibos in the perfect growing conditions of South Africa use the funds received from Fair Trade premiums to guarantee the sustainability of their existing community programs. Classes currently encompass HIV/AIDS education, first aid treatment, and life skills training for women.
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