The American electronics giant Apple was investigating damaging allegations last night that Chinese workers making its new iPad device were subjected to such "inhumane" treatment that some of them took their own lives by jumping off factory roofs.

Documents seen by The Independent reveal there are widespread failures by Apple's suppliers to respect standards on labour rights and safety specified by the company, which had sales of £30bn last year.

Ethos is holding A Big Brew event for Fair Trade fortnight on Thursday 25th of February 10.00 - 2.00 pm. Lots of fairtrade tea and cake and offers in the shop. Traidcraft will be with us with a wide selection of goodies too.

This year we are changing our coffee mornings to the last Thursday of the month - The Big Brew being the first!


Find Ethos in our Directory and Event sections.

FAIR TRADE DAY
(at the end of Fair Trade Fortnight)

LET THE ‘BIG SWAP’ BEGIN!

Join the push to encourage 1,000,000 people to swap something they normally buy for the Fairtrade alternative.

Saturday March 6th
At St.Paul’s Centre, Church Road, Tupsley
from 10-30am – 2pm

Come for coffee and biscuits from 10-30am, and stay for lunch, served from 12-00pm, made, as much as possible, from fairly traded and /or local sources.

On Friday 6th November,  Kingstone High School was filled with Year 5 children ‘Going Bananas’! Pupils from Kingstone’s six feeder schools  enjoyed a number of banana-flavoured activities, including learning about the importance of bananas to the livelihoods of people in other cultures and how bananas are grown and harvested.

The day  culminated in an assembly to explore the issue of Fairtrade and children took away Fairtrade activities to share at home.

For full details and the newsletter, click here.

This is just to remind you that there is a meeting of the fairtrade city group in All Saints at 2pm this Tuesday 8th Dec.

The School Uniform Shop in Maylords Hereford is the latest addition to the Herefordshire Fairtrade Directory. Fairtrade garments are Fair Trade though the complete process from the farmers through to manufacture. All Uniform Shop products are manufactured by Trutex are 100% Fair Trade Cotton and certified by the Fairtrade Foundation.

The shop stock the following

Boys Trousers
Girls Trousers
Boys Shirts
Girls Blouses
Sweat Shirts
Polo Shirts

For further product and Fairtrade details visit the website.

Christmas will be even better in Ross-on-Wye this year, as the Town Council celebrates the installation of new energy efficient Christmas lighting in the town with fun-filled events that can also help householders and businesses save money. This year’s Christmas lights have been designed to be different! Ross-on-Wye will celebrate Christmas 2009 with a beautiful and innovative light display that is also highly energy efficient, reducing pollution and saving money at the same time. We hope this will generate lots of positive publicity to encourage shoppers into the Town to help us with our celebrations. The Council is very encouraged by the initiative taken by the Association of Ross Traders to decorate many of the shops in the Town with energy efficient lights.

The celebrations start on Saturday 28 November at the Market House. In the afternoon the High Street will be closed to traffic so that charity and community groups can set up stalls. As well as activities for children, there will be free energy advice available from Marches Energy Agency, who will also be giving out free light bulbs to visitors to their stand. You will also have the opportunity to meet Rudolph, a reindeer with an energy efficient nose! At 5pm, the Christmas lights on the Market House will be switched on, with Christmas musical entertainment from Ross Town Band.

This year, there is a competition for the best Christmas light displays, with separate categories for householders and retailers. But, in order to encourage energy efficiency , only displays using all energy efficient LED lights will be eligible to win. There is no need to enter - Councillors will tour the Town in the first week of December to judge the event and the winners will be announced at the Town Council meeting on the 14th. Marches Energy Agency and Rudolph will be visiting Tudorville and Three Crosses on Saturday 12th December, to admire the fine displays of household lights and to give out advice on how to get more light for less energy and less money.

After last years successful children's competition, we are again asking children in the town to write to the Council with their ideas about saving energy at Christmas. The authors of the best ideas will be invited to join us for the celebrations on November the 28th and receive a small prize. All entries should be addressed to the Deputy Town Clerk at the Corn Exchange.

The Ross Christmas lights project has been supported by Natural England's Sustainable Development Fund in the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Ross Town Council is grateful for this support.

Enquiries: Jane Roberts 07931 561553

Increase in Fairtrade Banana Prices counters Supermarkets Race to the Bottom

Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) is raising the Fairtrade minimum price for bananas to its highest level to date despite downward spiraling supermarket prices.  FLO considers the move necessary to satisfy producer needs in the face of rising costs of production.

“We had to act to protect our producers,” says Rob Cameron, CEO of FLO. “This price floor helps Fairtrade farmers and workers cover their expenses while shielding them against the worst impact of the current banana price war, which is threatening to drive hundreds of thousands into even deeper poverty.”

The latest round in the banana price war was launched in early October by a large UK discounter who cut banana prices to £0.38/kg – the lowest real price to date, just one-third the value seven years ago.  Commercial banana prices have been in long-term decline as supermarkets will sell this core product below cost of production in order to draw customers.  Meanwhile, banana producers are now facing higher expenses on fertilizer and packing due to rises in oil prices.  FLO experts warn that shifting the loss down the supply chain to producers will threaten the livelihood and existence of banana farmers and workers around the globe.

As part of its aim to maximize income to Fairtrade producers and secure their livelihoods, FLO is increasing the Fairtrade Minimum Prices for bananas by an average of 21.2% over 2006 levels, effective January 1st, 2010.  For the key indicator country Columbia, this means companies must pay producers at least US$8.50 per 18.14 kg box for Fairtrade conventional bananas, up from US$6.75/box.  In addition to country-specific prices, FLO has now also set minimum prices for all banana-producing regions - a move that opens Fairtrade to banana producers across the world who meet Fairtrade standards.  Meanwhile, banana producer organizations will continue to receive an additional US$1.00/box in Fairtrade Premium on top of the price to invest in social, environmental or business development, and to supplement incomes.

CEO Rob Cameron is calling on continued consumer support for the increase.  “That way, shoppers not only make a conscious decision to actively help the most disadvantaged farmers and workers to help themselves – in addition, the also buy the higher quality product,” he says.

The Fairtrade standards include provisions for climate protection and the environment, and call for producers to avoid herbicides in favor of manual weed control.  This not only leads to a “better banana”, but also provides jobs in times of financial and economic crisis.

“We would have liked to increase our minimum prices even more,” says Cameron.  “However, we have to balance the thin line of what consumers are willing to pay in light of below-cost rock-bottom supermarket prices and the urgent needs of those who have joined the Fairtrade system to combat dire poverty.”

With the price increase, FLO is also calling on the banana industry and governments to undertake steps to end the price war and to develop long-term strategies that result in fairer trading conditions and sustainable prices, thereby securing supply and the livelihoods of millions of banana producers around the world.

From Fairtrade.net

By Barbara Mark