This is more me organizing my notes from the meeting, but I thought they were interesting to share... more later
I went to a fair trade group today, which was a great experience. one woman took me around the whole facilities, i got to see how they design the textiles, the wood carving and pottery center, knitting. The coolest was seeing how felt is made-- dying the wool and putting it through a machine that gets the kinks out and softens it, then putting it in hot water and using soap water to mold things with it.
The center is a complete holistic facility. They have producer benefit programs for the workers, in which 7% of each persons pay goes to medical benefits, and another 7% to pay for time off during the holidays. They give 90 days paid maternity leave, and 15 day paternity. They also put extra money aside for a reitrement plan and further child eduction.
There is village involvement from women who work from them wanting family in the village to get a job. ACP lets them work from home and will do something like dying the yarn at the factory, having it woven in the village and havingt them stitch it. They put up notices around the village asking for stitchers to help.
Workers are decided on need rather than skill, although they must already having some training, but the thought is who needs the job more and would not get a job in their village, and those are the people they want to help.
There is a rain catching system with an underground tank to recycle water and use it when making products. They use recycled paper, and the steam from the boilder used to dry products is used to heat the water for felt.
I did find out that the pay is still minimal, but the surroundings are very pleasant. The government living minimal wage is 120 rupees a day, and here the woman make around 125 rupees excluding all the benefits for an 8 hour day. I guess when you weigh it out it is enough to live on and balances out with the benefits from the organization.
There is an informal education program where they have street plays or watch movies and find an educational angle in them, such as sex or drugs, health issues, early marriage. Sometimes they go to the villages to do the educational programs and anyone there can come.
