SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND TRADE -
A PANEL DISCUSSION

Presentation of Arnd Spahn, IG BAU

The final panel discussion deals with sustainable consumption and trade. This is a very problematic issue because the production process takes place before consumption and trade, and I believe there is no such thing as a sustainable banana production. As a trade unionist, I am therefore interested in measures to make sustainable production possible.

The situation is very difficult in the agricultural sector. Our colleagues in the producer countries are murdered or forced to leave their country, their families are suppressed and employers and governments use police and military force against employees. Against this background, we are trying to think of ways to make sustainable consumption and trade possible, which is very difficult. The crucial question is: How can trade and consumers help improve the disastrous situation in the production sector? During the conference we discussed the role of ISO, ILO, FLO, and the WTO, but I doubt that formulating questions will enable us to solve the problems we are all aware of - the destruction of workers and the environment during the production process. As a trade unionist, I do not want ISO to start dealing with banana standards. We have many adequate instruments to tackle these problems together, and maybe to solve some of them. Many possible solutions have been discussed at this conference.

Fair trade has been a very important issue for German trade unions in recent years, and, although we have accompanied the process constructively and with great interest, we now wonder if things have changed in the producer countries, if the problems have been reduced, if the production process has become more sustainable, if workers have more rights and if there are more trade unions. Fair trade organisations, too, have to answer these questions today. In the future, we will have to have more discussions on these issues, because colleagues from the south want to know if fair trade organisations really share their interests, if they deal constructively with these issues, and who within the fair trade organisations defines the aims. This is not directed against anybody, I just wish to point out that intensified discussions on these issues are necessary.

Alistair is right when he says that we have to discuss, to communicate and to participate. There will be no solution of these problems without my colleagues from the banana-producing countries in the south. This is why we must discuss all possible approaches with them. For the German agricultural trade union which I represent, this has always been the basis in all our attempts to help improve the situation on the German market. Although we were not successful in these efforts, we managed to prevent the situation from getting worse. And the prevention of market access for Chiquita’s Eco-OK Banana was a good example of how the banana campaign and German trade unions can cooperate in order to prevent negative developments. This example also shows that we have to work with the people to ensure sustainability and better consumption and trade patterns on a national and international level.

It would be adequate to concentrate on just a few aims. Different approaches may be interesting, but they did not enable us to solve the problems that occur in the production process, which makes it unlikely that they will be helpful in the future. We expect a lot from the Brussels conference in May, and we are ready to contribute actively to its success. We know that Sue Longley (IUF) is a strong and active advocate of our interests in the preparatory work, and we hope that all questions arising during the preparatory work can be solved at the conference in such a way that we can agree on a common strategy. Thank you very much.