Compromising Social Justice in Fairtrade? Case Study of a Fairtrade Organization in India

The study investigates whether Fair Trade Organizations (FTOs) are able to
adhere to their principles of social justice and development goals as they enter
mainstream markets which are dominated by neo-liberalism, unequal terms of
trade and propagation of the ‘free market’ principle. Through a case study of
Kala-a craft marketing Fair Trade Organization in West Bengal, India, the
paper shows shifts in the development of the FTO, the introduction of a
certification regime and the emerging contradiction between the intentions of
the FTO and its actual practice in the contemporary period. The implications
of shifts in orientation from solidarity based notions of social justice to market
oriented social justice, in particular on the weakest link and most vulnerable
section who are women craft workers at the bottom of the production chain
are investigated. A production chain analysis of handicraft production gives
evidence of violation of FT principles and ILO’s decent work norms and also
reveals characteristics of the informal economy with producers having no
entitlements to minimum wages, or social security benefits. There remains
gender bias in the employment of women in the fair-trade production chain.
The data shows that there is no challenge to gender segmentation and in fact a
reinforcement of the feminine stereotype. Declining partnership with
cooperatives, rising partnership with large scale NGOs and setting up of a
Business Development Unit within the organization are some of the strategic
shifts in the FTO. These shifts and the lack of implementation of FT
principles indicate that the FTO is succumbing to the logic of the neo liberal
mainstream market resulting in a drift away from the social justice principles
within the Fairtrade Network. While onstage FTO’s use the principle of
‘fairness’ particularly in relation to Northern Corporations, this notion of
fairness is not extended to the lower end producers through which they are
expanding in the global market.