The Hidden Labor of Fair Trade

Bibliographic Data

ID12793036
AuthorsSarah Lyon (0000-0001-9737-1884, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume12
Issue1-2
Pages159-176
Publication date2015-03-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueLabor Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1547-6715 • E-ISSN: 1558-1454
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/15476715-2837652
OpenAlexW2319025173
LanguageEN
Citations received7

In this article, Sarah Lyon explores the impact of fair trade on agricultural laborers within Latin America. She situates fair trade within regional processes of agrarian change, exploring how the movement and certification practices intersect with broader socioeconomic and political forces, paying close attention to fair trade's insertion into local, regional, and national contexts. The data come from three sources: the author's own research among small coffee producers in Guatemala and southern Mexico, related studies on contract labor within small producer fair trade value chains, and an exploration of fair trade standards for plantation production. In its current form, fair trade certification provides few identifiable advantages to waged agricultural laborers. It is critical that certifiers begin to explicitly acknowledge and strengthen the legal frameworks already in place to protect agricultural worker rights. Where these are inadequate, fair trade organizations can and should work with other stakeholders to change both norms and regulations

Agrarian society · Agriculture · Business · Certification · Economics · Fair trade · Geography · International trade · Latin Americans · Political science · Politics · Work (physics · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · International Labor and Employment Law · Labor Movements and Unions · Law