With this fast-growing global flower market comes a variety of challenges, especially for the many workers involved in picking and packing these international symbols of love. On some farms, workers put in long hours -- often seven days a week -- without vacation or overtime.
There are, however, farms that see the opportunity to bring economic development and empowerment to impoverished communities by improving the working conditions and livelihoods for their employees. These are the farms that should be supported on Mother's Day, when we honor our moms with bouquets flowers that are supposed to represent maternal strength, love and humanity.
In the article Fairtrade certified companies are mentioned that have changed their operations in different ways to become Fairtrade certified:
- Workers at Hoja Verde in Ecuador's Pichincha Valley used their Fair Trade Community Development Premiums to establish routine breast cancer screenings for female employees, as well as an interest-free, home improvement loan fund with convenient repayment terms.
- Making education a priority, both workers and management at the Agrogana flower farm in Ecuador democratically decided to use their Fair Trade Premiums for adult education programs, as well as tuition scholarships and after-school programs for the children of their workers.
- The Fair Trade workers at flower grower Agrocoex are building a housing complex for 200 families on the outskirts of Latacunga, the capital of the Cotopaxi Province in Ecuador. This project will enable employees of Agrocoex to become homeowners and relocate to a city with better health, education and income possibilities for their loved ones. The first of 98 houses was completed in January.
- These visionary Agrocoex workers also voted to spend their Fair Trade funds on a far simpler, yet equally life-changing, investment: washing machines. Explains Elsa Vasquez: "I used to spend my Sundays, every single one, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. down in the river washing my family's clothes by hand. Now I spend it with my family. We go to church together. ... I got my Sundays back!" Not only do Elsa and her coworkers now have more time to spend with their families, they also have cleaner rivers to enjoy with fewer chemicals from the soaps used to wash their clothes.
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