Onderstaande tekst staat al op het internet op LinkedIn bij de Fair Trade group. Daar staan interessante discussies, waaraan ik soms ook wat inbreng.
2011.ix.mid How do you feel about TFUSA/FTUSA leaving FLO? Is it relevant to you? Will it change the way you or your organization approach fair trade? Pros? Cons? Opinions? 1 month ago.
I'm sorry not having time upto now following this discussion. Since I - as 1970-cofounder of the dutch worldshops movement - experienced that personal interests have sometimes? / often? great weight in actions. Tiffany Tompkins comments "the worst organization I have ever worked with. Ego driven" should be eye-openers for everyone. In our actual Netherlands situation similar problems have devastating effect on the movement. Fair Trade Original and Fair Support are leaving the standards by forbidding local policies and imposing a new "marketing mix" of 40% not-FT-assortment. And they try to eliminate many of the importing companies. E.g. they replaced the longstanding incense-importer MIRA with a new incensemark, that is traded by an unknown chain of intermediaries. The whole policy is driven by desire to reach near-oligopoly. With - of course - more profits for directors and highpaid staffmembers, directly or indirectly. Already some 40-50 local shops have discontinued their membership! The group of importing organisations are in serious problems as their turnover is mostly at minimal level. It seems that this crisis is not yet known at the international level. I'll have to comment more later. Enschede, 15-11-2011.
Jan Velterop
