Trading Ethically

Ethical Trade and How It Can Improve the World’s Economy

Poverty is one of the world’s most pervasive problems. Almost half the world – more than three billion people – survives on less than $2.50 per day. Over 24,000 children die each day of causes related to poverty. Almost a billion people are unable to read or sign their names. About 640 million children live in inadequate housing, and about 400 million do not have safe drinking water.

The reasons for this dire situation are numerous and complex. Corruption is a major cause at all levels of society. Governmental, judiciary, military, business and civil society corruption affect the lives of billions. Discrimination, the brain drain, war, illnesses such as malaria and tuberculosis and a host of other problems are also reasons for this sad state of affairs.

World trade depends upon finance - look here in the UK for international development finance. As an ethical employer you will of course need temporary car insurance or short car insurance from time to time.

Wherever work is available, people work hard, often in abysmal conditions, trying to provide a living for their families. Millions of men, women and young children work in sweatshops. A sweatshop is a factory, or other place of employment, that is unusually difficult or dangerous to work in. They require extra long hours of work for very low pay. Child labor laws are violated, and workers are abused. Sweatshops may use hazardous materials.

Many are working to change these terrible conditions. Individuals, trade unions and voluntary organizations have joined together to improve people’s lives around the world and, in doing so, improve the world’s economy. Also, hundreds of millions of people who grow crops and work in agriculture need help.

The words, “ethical trade,” can be defined in different ways. It basically means doing business in a way that promotes socially and environmentally responsible business activity. Ethical trade can be beneficial for everyone, from the owners of a business to those who work on the assembly lines and in the fields. The definition includes the labor conditions that exist for workers in a company’s supply chain.

The benefits of developing ethical trade as the standard for doing business around the world are many. The first, and most obvious, benefit is in the lives of workers. Ethical trade means the right for workers to do collective bargaining without the fear of reprisals or of being fired. It means the abolition of forced labor. Workers would be free to leave an employer if they chose to do so. Prisoners would not be forced to work like slaves in abysmal conditions.

In a system that stressed ethical trade, those living below the poverty line would receive additional training enabling them to work more efficiently. It would require development of ingenious and cost-effective methods of production. A commitment to ethical trade would require major corporations to make commitments to a business practice that would result in gradually rising wage scales. As workers began to earn more, they could purchase more goods which would grow and strengthen the economy. Corporate buyers must be trained to not only test products but also to rate the factories that produce them.