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80 DIE ERDE · Vol. 154 · 3/2023
Living Wages as a Lifeboat to Rescue
Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labor?
The Case of Indian Tea Plantations
Jutta Kister1*, Miriam Wenner2
1Department of Geography, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52f, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria, Jutta.Kister@uibk.ac.at,
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9022-9092
2Institute of Geography, Georg August University of Göttingen, Goldschmidtstraße 5, 37077 Göttingen, Germany, miriam.wenner@uni-goettingen.de,
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2840-4280
*corresponding author
The authors declare that they contributed equally, which is why the order is alphabetical.
Abstract
Fair Trade is a normative concept for creating more “just” trading relations between producers in the Global South
and consumers in the Global North. It aims to foster the sustainable development of producers through instru-
ments like minimum prices, long-term partnerships, and labor and environmental standards. However, as a mar-
ket-based instrument, Fair Trade cannot fully escape capitalist logics like price competition. This is especially true
how Fairtrade attempts to address the contradictions bet ween its alternative, moral mission and conventional mar-
frame our understanding of fairness as the outcome of a contested process in which different actors assume responsi-
-
is responsible for establishing fairness and on what level it should be done remains unsolved.
Vol. 154, No. 3 · Research article
DIE ERDE
Journal of the
Geographical Society
of Berlin
https://doi.org/10.12854/erde-2023-642
Kister, J., & Wenner, M. (2023). Living wages as a lifeboat to rescue Fairtrade’s values for hired labor? The case of Indian tea
planta tions. DIE ERDE, 154(3), 80–94.
Keywords fairness, responsibility, living wages, hired labor, Indian tea plantations
81DIE ERDE · Vol. 154 · 3/2023
1. Introduction
On August 13, 2022, around 7,000 workers from one
of the largest tea-producing companies in Darjeeling,
India—the Darjeeling Organic Tea Estate Private Ltd
(DOTEPL), also known as Amootia—stopped produc-
tion in its 10 Darjeeling district estates. This came af-
ter six weeks of not paying worker wages (to a sum of
INR 35,082,290 [around 1.69 million Euro]) in a clear
violation of Indian law (The Statesman, 2022). While
such “lock-outs” are unfortunately a regular occur-
rence in the North Indian tea industry, the DOTEPL
lock-out was remarkable since it was a large, interna-
tionally-known company that had, until recently, suc-
cessfully bought and revived “sick” estates from other
companies. Furthermore, the DOTEPL Darjeeling
organizations, namely “Naturland Fair”, “Demeter”,
“Fairtrade”1 (two estates), and the “Rainforest Alli-
ance” (one estate; DOTEPL, 2021, p. 37). These orga-
standards that were clearly violated by the non-pay-
to guarantee stable sales, even during crises, because
they target moral consumers who are prepared to pay
a higher price. Nevertheless, it seems even multiple
or the viability of the business. The DOTEPL example
-
tainability standards in negotiating fairness for hired
labor (HL) in the plantation economy.
Fairtrade is a long-standing, global business-to-con-
2 -
tion scheme emerged from a global social movement
that criticized poverty and working conditions of pro-
ducers in the Global South and former colonies. It pro-
motes a “fair” alternative trading scheme that aims to
create more just and equitable trading relations be-
tween producers in the Global South and consumers
in the Global North. Fairness for Fairtrade primarily
stands for producer empowerment and a redistribu-
tive vision of justice characterized by a bundle of
social, economic, and environmental values (Kister,
2019).
However, Fair Tr ade3 is a market-based instrument,
and cannot fully escape conventional capitalist market
products, as these compete against conventional
products on supermarket shelves (other Fair Trade
organizations exclusively sell products online or in
so-called “Worldshops”). To meet a growing demand
2007) in the Global North, Fairtrade products are in-
creasingly sourced from larger producer enterprises,
such as plantations, to complement production from
small-scale producers in organized cooperatives. This
deepens Fairtrade’s problematic involvement with the
conventional capitalist market economy and sharpens
the organization’s perceived responsibility to enable
higher wages.
The choice to include products from HL and certify
large businesses (often part of buyer-driven value
chains) has been criticized for exposing Fair Trade
and its values of justice and empowerment to capi-
talist market logics. It also creates price pressures
on small-scale farmer cooperatives who fear being
pushed out of the Fairtrade market in a race to the
Grovas, 2007). Questions also exist about how to deal
-
ness of Fairtrade instruments for improving workers’
living conditions (Lyon, 2015). Overall, this market
expansion sharpened Fairtrade’s balancing act “in
and against the market,” between economic demands
and social values (Raynolds, 2000, p. 299). This pa-
per explores how Fairtrade, as a labelling organiza-
tion, attempts to address the contradictions of being
a morally-motivated, alternative niche within conven-
tional markets. More precisely, we ask how Fairtrade
attempts to address the contradiction by promoting
moral values of fairness, global justice, and solidarity
through the instrument of living wages (LW) in the
(plantation) HL context. Can LW function as a lifeboat
to rescue Fairtrade’s moral values for workers?
Drawing on insights from moral geography, we under-
stand fairness as the outcome of a contested process,
in which different actors assume or reject the respon-
sibility to make a difference. We argue that the ques-
tion of who is responsible for establishing fairness,
and on which level (i.e., locally or in global trade), re-
mains unsolved. It points to issues with power rela-
tions and the scope for action in societal negotiation
Fairtrade (actively) take on responsibility, using their
power and scope to improve global workers’ living
frameworks. However, these activities may not always
Living Wages as a Lifeboat to Rescue Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labor? The Case of Indian Tea Plantations
82 DIE ERDE · Vol. 154 · 3/2023
be welcomed in regional contexts since some of this
work should remain under local organizations. Even
though the LW approach is meant to address (and ulti-
mately solve) the tensions between Fairtrade’s moral
values and the capitalist world trade system, serious
obstacles prevent this approach from being a univer-
sal solution. Conceptually, we apply a moral geogra-
phy perspective to discuss the concepts of fairness,
responsibility, and justice in ongoing debates around
intragenerational justice in world trade. We use the
-
lustrate how fairness is negotiated in the domain of
wages.
-
tionality as white female researchers from the Global
North in the Global South. We follow calls to include
perspectives and insights of marginalized and under-
on our experiential and cultural background to better
elucidate how power and privileges shape their real-
ity. Nevertheless, we know that we see the research
subject from the outside and interpret the research
data respectively. Acknowledging our positionality
helps “illuminate” situated knowledge production in
geography (Katz, 1994; Kinkaid, 2021; Rose, 1997).
This paper proceeds as follows. In the next section, we
offer an overview of fairness, responsibility, and jus-
tice in geography and related subjects, especially as
it applies to global trade relations. We contextualize
-
tion three explains Fairtrade’s vision and operational
working conditions and introduces the LW approach.
After describing our methods in section four, section
implementation of raising wages on Fairtrade-certi-
aspects of fairness and illustrate how power relations
enable and hinder Fairtrade in taking responsibility
for workers’ living conditions. In section six, we put
the case study into dialogue with wider insights on
how Fairtrade balances its contradictory role as an
alternative trade approach within the capitalist para-
digm of global trade. We consider how this contradic-
tion plays out on Indian tea plantations. We conclude
by questioning whether LW makes a difference in se-
-
tions.
2. Geographical Perspectives on Fairness in
Global Trade Relations
2.1 Moral Geography and Care for Distant Others
David Smith’s (1997) call for a moral turn in geogra-
phy subsumed many topics relevant to “the moral and
the spat ial” (Philo, 1991, p. 26, as cited in Smith, 1997),
including human-nature relationships, social aware-
ness, exclusion, and marginalization (Smith, 1997). In
the 90s, the moral turn tied geographic work to phi-
losophy to make engagement with normative theories
in spatial research more explicit. The normativity
of geographical research became apparent in criti-
cal accounts of globalization, poverty and inequality,
and the effects of international market deregulation
on Global South countries. Moreover, scholars began
investigating social movements’ social, political, and
environmental concerns (Raynolds, 2000) and dis-
cussed the relations between space and aspects of
justice (e.g., Affolderbach &
Some of these discussions dealt with the ethics of care
for others. For instance, Smith (2009, p. 206) pointed
at the morality of at times “paradoxical” everyday
distant others that revealed aspects of everyday life
that tend towards “what is good, fair and care-ful”
(Smith, 2009, p. 206). Campaigning for ethical con-
sumption could also be u nderstood as an ex pression of
the moral claim to care for distant others by connect-
ing locally embedded everyday life consumption to a
-
sumers and producers relationally re-connect with a
“transnational moral economy” (Goodman, 2004, p.
891). Fair Trade seeks to reveal global economic in-
equalities and construct a “solidarity in difference”
between producers and consumers (Goodman, 2004,
p. 905). It presumably enables consumers to address
global concerns about trade injustice by consuming a
fairly traded commodity. As Goodman (2004) argues,
products and their semiotic meaning to Northern con-
sumers (see also Cook & Crang, 1996).
However, questions remain about Fairtrade’s global
approach to transnational justice—embodied by
universal policies, values, and standards—and the
local level of application. Local experiences and in-
terpretations of “global moral discourses of Fair-
Living Wages as a Lifeboat to Rescue Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labor? The Case of Indian Tea Plantations
83DIE ERDE · Vol. 154 · 3/2023
of transnational justice” (Sen, 2014, p. 445) must be
political, and moral discourses within larger histori-
cal, social, and legal trajectories (Besky, 2008; Dolan,
2010; Herman, 2018). These contextual conditions
render Fair Trade’s approach of “governing at a dis-
we must ask how a “thin” or “universal” morality (rep-
resenting grand values like justice) relates to “thick”
or “particular” morality (situated and locally embed-
ded in culture and a “network of meanings”; Smith,
1997, p. 586–587; Walzer, 1994, p. xi). How does “the
contextual thickening of moral concepts in the par-
ticular (local) circumstances of differentiated human
being” (Smith 1997, p. 587) occur, especially as it per-
tains to fairness?
2.2 Fairness
The idea and objective of fairness can connect distant
places and people in presumably solidary relation-
ships and create justice. However, the meaning of fair-
ness and how exactly to establish it remains unclear.
For Fair Trade, the global economic system is unfair
because it privileges northern buyers while engaging
southern producers in uneven forms of exchange, fos-
tering a “race to the bottom” by exploiting low prices
and wages and maintaining dependency and global
inequality (Murray & Raynolds, 2007, p. 6). In re-
sponse, Fair Trade is a form of direct solidary market-
ing between the selling initiatives (Worldshops) and
producers in the Global South to enable a “fair” price.
Fairness involves transferring a high proportion of
the price to the producers and contributing to social
justice.
Fairt rade also brings f airness to marginalized produc-
ers and workers in the Global South through instru-
ments like guaranteed prices above the conventional
market, support in organizational capacity building,
representing small-scale producers via cooperatives
and workers via unions, enhancing production and
fairness through globally enforced standards that
(e.g., contracts, prices, working conditions, payment,
occupational health and safety). Compliance with
these standards is controlled through the FLOCERT
organization.
However, following Smith (2009), fairness cannot be
and institutional and organizational structures. Ad-
ditionally, how things ought to be and what exactly
people perceive as fair is a matter of negotiation. For
Broome (1990), fairness depends on negotiations that
lead to agreement bet ween what is needed and what is
deserved. Accordingly, fairness can be both a norma-
tive and descriptive approach. Normatively, fairness
describes an ideal situation to aim for. Researchers
can use it to unearth situations and conditions that
As a descriptive approach, we can investigate fairness
by analyzing actors’ practices and moral beliefs, how
they (un)intentionally achieve fairness, and how they
articulate what they need and think they deserve.
Interpreting fairness as an outcome of a negotiated
process enables us to determine who actively partici-
pates, who is represented or excluded, the scope of
spatiality affected by these moral negotiations, and
to distinguish bet ween fairness as a global and local
concern. Fairness as a negotiated, processual outcome
sheds light on power relations and actors’ capabilities.
This brings us to the question of responsibility.
2.3 Responsibility
Ethical trading initiatives attempting to assert their
version of fairness into the world rely on the moral
basis of “caring for distant others.” Such initiatives
see themselves as part of the solution and, as such, re-
sponsible for the well-being of producers. This model
of collective responsibility, as performed by civil so-
ciety initiatives, is based on a relational understand-
ing of space and place (McEwan & Goodman, 2010). It
extends the ethics of care for distant others by situat-
ing the relationship with southern producers as equal
rather than dependent (Lee & Smith, 2004). However,
like fairness and justice, care and responsibility are
(2011) suggest understanding “responsibility and
justice … as normative modalities [emphasis added]
through which practices unfold in the world” (p. 4) [to
ask] “where effective agency for changing consump-
tion lies” (p. 6). They point to the importance of scope
(global or domestic) and site (coercive institutions or
-
(scope), the Fair Trade movement’s claim that world
Living Wages as a Lifeboat to Rescue Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labor? The Case of Indian Tea Plantations
84 DIE ERDE · Vol. 154 · 3/2023
trade is unjust with unequally distributed gains is
expressed in its campaigning work (site). On the lo-
cal level, Fairtrade uses standards to control and im-
plement its normative vision of fairness and justice
(Kister, 2020).
of responsibility with Young’s “social connec tion mod-
see Young 2006a). Young assumes that responsibility
arises “from the ways in which different ac tors are im-
2011, p. 7) to highlight the conditions that enable or
disable actors’ capacity to make a change (Young,
2006b). Young suggests that responsibilit y is “shared”
-
dividuals since power and capacit y to make a differ-
ence are distributed differently amongst persons and
organizations. Responsibility, in this understanding,
is relational, “distributed across complex networks of
-
ity to act is determined by power, privilege, and de-
-
standing responsibility as a normative modality helps
situate fair trading organizations’ attempts to make
a difference. Young’s conceptualization of responsibil-
ity—as related to questions of capacit y and power—
is useful in dissecting the arenas in which fairness
establish fairness on the local level since it is negoti-
ated among involved parties and subject to a dynamic
context-related situation. Yet, Fairtrade, as an organi-
zation, sees the pursuit of fairness as a mandate for
engaging in local negotiations.
3. Fairtrade, Living Wages, and Hired Labor
3.1 Fairtrade’s Hired Labor Problem
From the 1990s, some national Fairtrade organiza-
tions argued that HL also deserved support. Further-
more, the longstanding solidary partnerships with
-
tion demand (Raynolds, 2017). In 1994, tea was the
Fairtrade developed the “Hired Labour Standards”
and account for the differences between democratic
cooperatives and HL organizations with no formal
democratic worker representation (Fairtrade Inter-
national, 2014). Companies were required to meet
standards in occupational health and safety, working
hours, contracts, paid and sick leave, and child labor.
level workers’ representation and utilize the Fair-
trade premium.
-
ies identify improvements in occupational health and
safety, working conditions, and workers’ representa-
has had limited effects on worker incomes. However,
several studies found that Fairtrade reinforces exist-
-
ers; Makita, 2012; Siegmann, 2022, tea). Workers may
even misinterpret Fairtrade as a reward for workers’
compliance and commitment (Brugger & Wenner,
2020; Siegmann, 2022). Similar depoliticizing effects
also occurred in Fairtrade Premium Committees
plantations. FPCs consist of elected worker represen-
and management (in advisory function). They receive
training on Fairtrade and decide how to utilize the
Fairtrade premium. However, committees may be-
come tools for company governance as they often lack
worker representation, fail to discuss political issues
the management (Brugger & Wenner, 2020; Kuiper &
Gemählich, 2017, p. 45; Siegmann, 2022). Workers are
given the responsibility of aligning with standards,
question local power relations or the distribution of
value along the commodit y chain (Besky 2013; Dolan,
2010).
-
moting an agenda of worker empowerment and socio-
economic uplift in (generally postcolonial) plantation
economies. Power relations and dependencies are
historically entrenched between workers and com-
on buyer-driven value chains (Kister, 2020). Fairtrade
needs to show that it can have a positive impact on
plantation workers’ lives: the instrument of LW is one
such attempt.
Living Wages as a Lifeboat to Rescue Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labor? The Case of Indian Tea Plantations
85DIE ERDE · Vol. 154 · 3/2023
3.2 Fairtrade’s Living Wages Approach
At its core , the LW concept assu mes that worker s’ wages
should do more than cover their basic needs; they
should enable workers to achieve a decent standard
of life, sustain their livelihoods, and enhance their
Rights (1948) and the original ILO Constitution (1919;
mobilized for labor discussions in the Global North,
it soon gained relevance in debates over wages and
labor rights in the Global South.
Fairtrade introduced the LW instrument following a
recommendation from the Workers’ Rights Advisory
labor representatives and made recommendations for
addressing labor issues in the HL domain (Raynolds,
2018, p. 197). The new HL standards, including LW,
came into effect in 2015 (Raynolds, 2018). As part of
LW as: “a wage that covers the basic needs of work-
ers and their families, including food, clothing, shelter,
healthcare, education, transport to work and a little
extra for unforeseen circumstances” (Fairtrade In-
ternational, 2022b, subtitles section). Companies now
“must ensure that real wages are increased annually
to continuously close the gap [to living wage]” (Fair-
trade International, 2014, p. 31). The timeframe is to
be negotiated between workers and employers. While
Fairtrade’s ideological commitment to LW is under-
lined in its standards, questions of how to achieve
LW, who is responsible for negotiating them, and who
bears the cost remain unclear. Furthermore, we must
-
er to fairly negotiate a living wage (since HL workers
may not have such power).
-
ent approaches to LW implementation. On the one
hand, Fairtrade uses a “formula” approach (Miller &
Williams, 2009, p. 113) that mandates wage levels in
standards (Bennett 2018, p. 67). Fairtrade orients it-
Wage Coalition, and draws on the Anker method to
-
-
fruits, bananas; Fairtrade International, 2022a).
On the other hand, Fairtrade draws on a “negotiated
approach” (see Miller & Williams, 2009, p. 113) that
ties LW to worker empowerment: “Our ambition is
that workers have the power to improve their own
livelihoods and negotiate their wages and terms of
work” (Fairtrade International, 2022b, subtitles sec-
benchmarks, the “negotiated approach” ties the LW
-
about how to estimate LW (given regional differences
-
ers the responsibility of negotiating higher wages.
It is predicated on the existence of “process rights”
(Bennett, 2018, p. 67) enacted by an empowered and
well-represented workforce. It also requires trans-
parency from companies, and an ability and willing-
ness to pay more against the backdrop of increasing
market competition (Miller & Williams, 2009). Fair-
trade also uses minimum pricing and premiums to im-
prove social and economic development and bolster
progress towards higher incomes. For example, they
secure producers from market price shocks, enable
investments for productivity, and allow part of the
premium to be distributed amongst producers (Fair-
trade International, 2022b).
While LW is likely the “most important change in Fair-
trade’s standards promoting decent work” (Raynolds
should pay the higher costs of LW and tensions be-
tween LW and companies’ economic viability. LW
must negotiate moral alterity (i.e., Fairtrade’s aim
to uplift workers based on universal standards), the
business reality of global trade, and local contextual
conditions. We now turn to how these tensions are re-
-
gotiations teach us about how fairness is negotiated in
the contested wage arena.
4. Methods
This case study is based on a review of Indian legal
documents, secondary literature, and Fairtrade doc-
uments. We particularly draw on Fairtrade’s “Tea
Standards and Pricing Review” (Fairtrade Interna-
tional, 2019, 2021a), which presents a synopsis of
Fairtrade’s proposals on wages in tea plantations and
different stakeholders’ responses (e.g., tea companies,
tea traders, and workers). We also collected qualita-
Living Wages as a Lifeboat to Rescue Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labor? The Case of Indian Tea Plantations
86 DIE ERDE · Vol. 154 · 3/2023
tive data during stays on four different tea plantat ions
These data consist of 26 informal interviews, nine
group discussions with male and female plantation
workers and supervisors, and participatory obser-
vation of different groups of men and women during
their work. The inter views and group discussions cov-
ered topics pertaining to labor and living conditions
on the plantation, including questions about workers’
joys, sorrows, and aspirations. Most of the interviews
were conducted in 2012 and 2013, though two of the
plantations were revisited in 2015 and 2017. Hand-
writ ten notes during the interviews and participatory
observation were later coded inductively and deduc-
tively. This study focuses on statements about unions,
labor mobilization, and labor hierarchies.
Gender was particularly important for research on
tea plantations, where most workers are women. Both
men and women plantation workers sometimes be-
lieved that Miriam—a white female researcher—was
a representative from foreign tea companies. Miriam
was able to create a sense of reciprocity and trust by
working and living together with families on planta-
tions and by speak ing their native la nguage. Of course,
impossible to achieve (Rose, 1997).
5. Living Wages on Certified Darjeeling Tea
Plantations
India is the second largest producer of tea in the world.
Around 1.1 million workers are directly employed by
the tea economy (plus seasonal workers), making it
the second largest organized sector employer. Women,
often from distinct ethnic backgrounds, make up the
labor migration and indentured labor that ensures so-
cial reproduction and control in this enclave economy
(Makita, 2012, p. 90; Sarkar, 2015). Darjeeling accounts
for less than one percent of tea produced in India (TBI,
2023). Yet, in 2022, around half (The Wire, 2023) of
the 6.93 million kg (TBI, 2023) of tea produced was
exported, underscoring the region’s place in the global
economy. After independence in 1947, company propri-
etorship transferred from Europeans to businessmen
from the Indian plains. Ethnic Nepalis—descendants of
those who had been enticed as workers from present-
day Nepal—continued to be employed as laborers. In-
dian legislation (e.g., the Plantations Labour Act (PLA),
1951) requires companies to provide employees with
drinking water, sanitary and medical facilities, creches
for children, recreationa l and educational facilit ies, and
housing; however, the provision of these in-kind ben-
2022)4. In the worst cases, workers are not paid or
tea economy. In 2022, a parliamentary Panel on Com-
merce condemned inhumane living and working con-
workers’ basic needs (Parliamentary Standing Com-
mittee on Commerce, 2022, p. 8). Indeed, wages in the
North Indian tea economy remain below the state-ad-
TransFair Germany (today: Fairtrade) began working
with tea plantations in Darjeeling in 1993 (Brugger
& Wenner, 2020) and, by 2022, 30 of the 87 planta-
-
fee), Fairtrade does not set minimum prices for the
orthodox tea produced in Darjeeling (commercial
prices prevail); it also does not affect the wages paid
to workers. To understand how and by whom fairness
is negotiated in this challenging context, the follow-
ing sections review stakeholders’ discussions within
Fairtrade’s “Tea Standards and Pricing Review” (here-
after: Review; Fairtrade International, 2019, 2021a)
and highlight concerns about their (and others’) per-
ceived abilit y to increase the wages of tea plantation
workers. First, we offer a brief account of the legal
context of wage setting in India.
Living Wages as a Lifeboat to Rescue Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labor? The Case of Indian Tea Plantations
Figure 1
Note. Daily wages paid to tea plantation workers in
northern West Bengal compared to daily minimum (agricul-
ture) wages in We st Bengal. Since 2017, wages in the tea
industry have been announced by the We st Bengal govern-
ment through memoranda. All amounts are in INR. Source:
Own Elaboration based on Labour Department (2011,
2014, 2015, 2016, 2022); Department of Labour (2013);
Daijiworld.com (2018); The Telegraph (2022); Banerjee
(2022).
87DIE ERDE · Vol. 154 · 3/2023
5.1 Wage-Setting in the Indian Tea Industry
In South India, tea plantation workers are formally en-
titled to minimum wages determined by Labour Com-
mittees appointed by respective state governments
under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. By contrast,
tripartite negotiations between labor unions, compa-
nies, and state actors. Companies were represented by
the Indian and Darjeeling Tea Association, while work-
ers had as many as 26 different labor unions, many of
Agreements lasted for three years (the last from 2014
to 2016) and were often preceded by protests and
strikes. In 2019, instead of including tea within the
purview of minimum wages, as demanded by unions
and an advisory board, the West Bengal government
announced “interim wage hikes”, thereby rendering
fairness a state subject. This authority is likely to be
bolstered by the new Code on Wages, 2019, that envis-
ages minimum wages for tea. In principle and law, it
is impossible for Fairtrade (or any other civil society
-
sion of wage setting mechanisms).
5.2 Approaches and Hindrances to Raising Wages
on Plantations
Fairtrade created two consultation rounds as alter-
native arenas to negotiate wages. Different actors
were invited to comment on new standards propos-
als in written consultation documents. These actors
included producers, tea importers and exporters, pro-
was facilitated through workshops that included HL
organizations in different regions and an online sur-
vey. Plantation workers were represented by FPC del-
egates, whose participation was facilitated through
the regional Fairtrade network. Different workshops
were held for workers and management. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the second round of consulta-
tions was structured as an online webinar (personal
communication with Fairtrade, 26 September 2022).
The comments were later compiled in two synopses
(Fairtrade International, 2019, 2021a). During this Re-
view process, Fairtrade made two proposals for lif t-
minimum wages) and the second was a negotiated ap-
wage was described as a “meaningful step towards
providing a living wage” (Fairtrade International,
5.2.1 Formula Approach: Floor and Minimum Wages
wage would only include cash payments (no in-kind
international poverty line (Fairtrade International,
2019, p. 18). For India, this wage was set at $3.20 (or
204 INR) per day (below the prevailing minimum
wage in agriculture, see Figure 1)5.
In the se cond consult ation round, Fairtrade suppor ted
labor unions ’ demands to use ex isting mi nimum wages
for unskilled labor in agriculture as a benchmark
(Fairtrade International, 2021a, p. 19). While worker
and company representatives supposedly welcomed
higher wages, the two consultation rounds revealed
conditions that impeded their (and others’) ability
to do so, namely the i) calculation of wages, ii) legal
context, iii) political context, and iv) economic
constraints.
Indian tea companies disagreed with both of Fair-
trade’s wage proposals. First, companies wanted min-
made to workers. Indeed, cash wages only accounted
for about 50 percent of companies’ wage calculations
-
-
er, companies do not always fully cover these in-kind
Second, companies noted contradictions with the In-
dian legal system of collective bargaining that obliges
all companies in a region to agree on the same wages
(Fairtrade International, 2021a, p. 21). Fairtrade’s
intervention would create wage differentials be-
-
trade International, 2019, p. 31), and was seen as an
“encroach[ment] on the domain of the government
authorities” (Fairtrade International, 2021a, p. 22).
Companies clearly did not consider Fairtrade as party
to the wage negotiations. Third, companies expressed
Living Wages as a Lifeboat to Rescue Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labor? The Case of Indian Tea Plantations
88 DIE ERDE · Vol. 154 · 3/2023
fears that Fairtrade-mandated wages would disable
trade unions and “lead to civil unrest” in local politics
(Fairtrade International, 2019, p. 31).
Finally, companies felt that economic constraints im-
peded their ability to raise wages. They cited lower
productivity on Indian plantations, economic dis-
advantages due to price differentials with Fairtrade
tea from other countries, Northern consumers’ pre-
sumed unwillingness to pay higher prices (Fairtrade
International, 2021a, pp. 21, 22, 57), and the fact that
low Fairtrade sales cannot cover the higher cost of
production (Fairtrade International, 2019, p. 31, Fair-
trade International 2021a, p. 21)6. Therefore, any in-
crease in the cash-payments would have to affect the
-
dian tea economy landscape that struggles with low
prices, relatively high production costs, low produc-
tivity, outmigration, value capture by Northern retail-
ers and brands, and increasing price pressure from
Siegmann, 2022). In Darjeeling, cheaper tea from Ne-
pal and regular strikes due to an ongoing regional
autonomy movement result in huge losses for compa-
nies (S. Saha, 2019). In the Review, Indian companies
linked expec tations for hig her wages to increa sed pro-
ductivity, enhanced revenues, and a fairer distribu-
tion of value along the chain (Fairtrade International,
2021a, p. 20–21). The tea companies’ concerns assign
responsibility for low wages to international buyers,
the government, and allegedly less productive work-
ers. However, these companies do not transparently
display the terms of their tea sales (beyond auction
centers)7. Furthermore, despite fetching lower prices,
South Indian tea workers receive higher salaries than
those in North India8.
There is still no LW benchmark for Darjeeling or
northern West Bengal. Instead, the current HL stan-
dard (3.5.4) asks companies to “ensure that real wages
are increased annually to continuously close the gap
with [the] living wage” (Fairtrade International, 2014,
p. 31); the timeline is to be “negotiated with trade
union/elected worker representatives” (Fairtrade In-
ternational, 2014, p. 31).
5.2.2 The Negotiated Approach and Workers’ Em-
powerment
opted to enable workers to negotiate for better terms
of employment. Yet, the revised tea HL standards only
partially strengthened worker empowerment. This
standard—which was supported by workers and op-
posed by management—requires companies to pro-
vide training (on topics like labor legislation, partici-
pation in Fairtrade, and Fairtrade labor standards) to
trade union or elected worker representatives from
year one (2.2.2; Fairtrade International, 2021b, p. 10).
Audit resu lts must also be shared with workers (1.1.1),
and Fairtrade Compliance Committees (FCC) need to
be established (Fairtrade International, 2021b, p. 6).
Fairtrade’s reasonable proposal for tea companies to
grant human rights and labor rights NGOs access to
plantations did not make it into the new standards.
Fairtrade argued that such NGOs “could help to edu-
cate workers on how to best organize themselves in
trade unions, ... engage in social dialogue and negoti-
ate with their employer on terms and conditions of
employment and housing” (Fairtrade International,
2021a, p. 30). Indian tea companies opposed this,
claiming that workers were already well represented
by unions, which NGOs could undermine. This could
lead to security issues, political unrest, and less com-
pliance with local rules (Fairtrade International,
2021a, p. 5). Even some workers felt like external
agencies “publish negative news which brings organi-
-
trade International, 2019, p. 45).
Worker empowerment is limited by different factors.
First, workers from different plantations challenged
companies’ claims that they were already well-
represented by labor unions. In interviews, they
accused union leaders of corruption, taking personal
2022; Siegmann, 2022, p. 6). Despite a high degree
of unionization, the union landscape in West Bengal
is highly fragmented along political and ideological
lines and poorly represents women (Luig, 2019, p.
of unity and trust as a hindrance to collective action,
force. Second, empowerment is clearly impeded
by gendered and other forms of discrimination.
Women, especially, expressed a lack of self-esteem
Living Wages as a Lifeboat to Rescue Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labor? The Case of Indian Tea Plantations
89DIE ERDE · Vol. 154 · 3/2023
positionality in the post-colonial plantation hierarchy.
As Besky (2015, p. 1156) notes, this subjectivit y
is further shaped by ethnic and political forms of
discrimination that sustain Darjeeling’s (colonial) tea
economy.
Third, workers’ attempts to challenge management
were clearly limited by their dependence on the plan-
tation for health care, shelter, and wages. The land
of workers’ houses is not formally owned by them;
it is leased to companies by the state, leaving work-
ers in a state of continuous insecurity. Makita (2012)
aptly described the worker-management relationship
in terms of patronage, where the management pro-
for their labor and compliance. Importantly, none of
the workers connected Fairtrade to plantation work-
ing conditions in the interviews (in fact, in 2012 and
2013, most workers had barely heard of Fair trade). In-
stead, most workers assigned responsibility for work-
ing conditions to the management and to the malik
(company boss). Those active in the left labor union
also demanded the state provide minimum wages.
Workers’ separation of Fairtrade from labor issues
was supported by Siegmann’s (2022) study on certi-
that the Fairtrade premium was provided for good
quality tea, not for management’s compliance with la-
bor standards.
Workers on Darjeeling plantations had clear opinions
about who was responsible for their wages. However,
they had little ability to change the prevailing sys-
tem of wage set ting or negotiate fairness. Although
Fairtrade made clear proposals for fairness, none of
its approaches could generate the conditions needed
to enable higher wages against this backdrop of le-
gal, economic, and post-colonial conditions. Neither
workers nor companies felt like Fairtrade could legiti-
mately negotiate wages. Companies pointed to the In-
dian legal context, while workers did not know about
Fairtrade’s labor agenda. These observations bring us
back to the question of who, in the context of HL, is
responsible for negotiating fairness and promoting
justice, and what role Fairtrade can possibly play.
6. Discussion
We investigated how fairness as a normative aim is
negotiated in the locally embedded arena of wage-
setting. Drawing on an understanding of fairness as a
how a thin and universal value thickens in local con-
what aim?” and “who has the power and the respec-
tive capabilities to change the unfairness of the situ-
ation?” We also accounted for how Fairtrade’s “Tea
Standards and Pricing Review” was a situated nego-
tiation with different actors in Darjeeling.
Fairtrade attempted to impose its v ision of fairness by
but faced local obstacles in doing so. Fairtrade con-
to act on behalf
-
-
sibility emerged from Fairtrade’s universal vision to
create justice in global trade. Yet, Fairtrade’s attempt
approach) faced clear resistance from Indian tea
companies, who refused to recognize Fairtrade as a
legitimate player in the domain of wage setting. In-
ternational entities lack power and scope for action in
this arena, as these processes are largely considered
domestic.
Fairtrade’s second approach allocated the respon-
sibility of negotiating higher wages to workers and,
again, Fairtrade failed. Companies refused to permit
labor-oriented civil society organizations onto plan-
-
ity to change local power relations characterized by
colonial-type hierarchies and dependencies between
workers and management (see Besky, 2015; Makita,
2012; Siegmann, 2022). Fairtrade’s emphasis on re-
distributive justice and recognition (Herman, 2018)
needs to be bolstered through an agenda that fosters
worker representation while accounting for intersect-
ing forms of discrimination (e.g., gender, caste, and
ethnicity [see Besky, 2015]).
Even though Fairtrade took on responsibility for
lifting wages, it had limited capacity to put this vi-
sion of change into practice. Fairtrade’s capacity was
thwarted by i) contradictions with the Indian legal
context, ii) companies’ unwillingness to allow more
worker empowerment, and iii) companies’ claims that
higher wages would impede their economic viability.
Living Wages as a Lifeboat to Rescue Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labor? The Case of Indian Tea Plantations
90 DIE ERDE · Vol. 154 · 3/2023
-
proach; Fairtrade must—by principle—consider pro-
duction costs and international price competition.
The case also foregrounds different understandings
of fairness in negotiations about wages. While Fair-
trade’s vision was embodied by living wages, compa-
nies connected fair wages to workers’ productivity
and higher prices paid by foreign companies. They
placed responsibilit y for the wage increase on the
workers and other value chain actors, while empha-
sizing their own limitations.
Fairtrade went into a local negotiation to implement
fair trade, empower workers, and foster sustainable
livelihoods (Fairtrade International, 2016). However,
the organization was forced to step back if it was to
bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion. This
could be read as a prioritization of market logic over
civic values, but it also evidenced a commitment and
perceived responsibility to take care of workers in
other ways.
The ideal site and level for Fairtrade is unclear. Its
intervention into “domestic” processes of wage set-
ting entailed legal problems. However, we see scope
for Fairtrade to change the very conditions under
which negotiations in these national, legal arenas of
wage setting and working conditions take place. The
overall conditions of the negotiation arena should be
improved (i.e., more participation and information
transparency). Worker participation must be secured
in a way that considers power relations and negotia-
tion skills, as well as transparency of data. Fairtrade
should not only implement minimum prices for ortho-
dox tea but oblige tea buyers and Indian tea compa-
nies to provide transparent prices and de facto costs
of production to enable fair negotiations that account
for both companies’ viability and workers’ fair share
7. Conclusion
has a moral charge” (p. 2), they meant that research
could demonstrate how lifestyles are ent angled within
global concerns and suggest a sense of global respon-
global economy (e.g., through consumption) leads one
to acknowledge a personal responsibility for global in-
equality. However, while various strains of (geograph-
ical) knowledge production are morally charged, we
feel that the normative assumptions about the mean-
ings of justice or fairness are rarely made explicit. Ini-
tiatives like Fairtrade suggest that a more just world
can be bought at the supermarket. This moral vision
acknowledges responsibility for marginalized pro-
ducers and implies that Fairtrade has the capacity to
improve things. Our study questioned how these ab-
to highlight Fairtrade’s limited capacity to change the
contested arena of plantation worker wages.
We used a moral geography perspective to under-
stand Fairtrade’s attempt to implement higher wages
for plantation workers. Fairtrade—with its goal to
make world trade fairer—sought to empower small-
scale producers and workers to foster sustainable
livelihoods (Fairtrade International, 2016). Fairtrade-
-
cation has turned to plantations in addition to coop-
erative farms. The organization seeks to enable more
equitable, just, and redistributive trading relations
for both farmers and HL workers. Their moral mission
is to establish fair living conditions for the most vul-
nerable and marginalized participants in the chain.
Yet, as a market-based instrument, Fairtrade must
contend with the capital accumulation goals of con-
ventional buyers, who aim to purchase at ever lower
prices. Thus, we investigated Fairtrade’s attempt to
address the contradiction between its moral values
of fairness, global justice, and solidary partnerships
and its work in the capitalist (world) market through
the instrument of living wages in the HL (plantation)
context.
We distinguished between a normative and descrip-
tive perspective of fairness, using the concept of thin
and thick morality to analyze how moral values un-
fold in space. While fairness functions as a normative
vision (with the promise to increase wages for HL on
plantations), the LW concept functions as an instru-
ment to establish fairness on the ground. We analyzed
the negotiating arena between the involved parties
in Indian Darjeeling tea. Drawing on Young’s (2006a,
p. 122) “shared responsibilit y” approach, we opera-
tionalized the endeavor to introduce fairness in tea
plantations to analyze how differently situated actors
negotiate the proposal of higher wages. This under-
standing of responsibility helpfully situated actors’
attempts to justify their (non)actions in the domain
of wages. It also allowed us to situate their respon-
sibility in the wider structural context of economic
constraints, political marginalization, and post-co-
Living Wages as a Lifeboat to Rescue Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labor? The Case of Indian Tea Plantations
91DIE ERDE · Vol. 154 · 3/2023
lonial hierarchies. Young’s (2006a) concept also un-
derscores that the responsibility to change the global
economy does not rest with individual consumers, as
is suggested by “sustainable consumption” perspec-
tives.
In this case, Fairtrade was not recognized as a legiti-
mate local negotiating partner. The worker empow-
for higher wages. While Fairtrade focuses on redis-
tributive justice and recognition, marginalized work-
ers’ representation does not allow for meaningful
participation. They lack the capacity to change their
conditions. Fairtrade regards the implementation of
LW as one of its biggest challenges amidst companies’
economic constraints, low prices for resources, and
questions over whether consumers will pay more for
products (Fairtrade Germany, 2022).
-
averts a price battle between the two forms of pro-
duction, which could lead to a split. A single conscious
consumption label cannot distinguish between raw
materials grown on farms and plantations. If HL liv-
ing conditions and empowerment were too differen-
tiated, the ensuing scandals would shake the label’s
trustworthiness. Thus, Fairtrade recently renewed
its goal to implement living wages (Fairtrade Interna-
tional, 2021c, p. 8).
The approaches outlined here are relevant for other
ecological transformation) that scrutinize sustaina-
bility standards and assess their normative bases and
Notes
1 According to the Fairtrade website, DOTEPL was decerti-
2
product and inform the consumer’s consumption choice.
They differ from business-to-business standards such as
GlobalG.A.P. that inform buyers and wholesalers about as-
pects of production.
3 We use the notation “Fairtrade” to refer to the institution-
-
tion) and “Fair Trade” for the social movement. Commodi-
ties are traded in both schemes, labelled with Fairtrade or
without label via alternative trading initiatives (ATO), for
example, World Shops.
4 -
5 This equals 204 INR (exchange rate 1 January 2018), be-
low the minimum wage paid for unskilled workers in agri-
cult ure (234 INR/day). During that time, t ea workers were
paid 176 INR/day (see Figure 1).
6
12 percent of t heir produce under the label (per sonal com-
municat ion with Fairtrade International, 1 March 2022).
7 About half of the tea produced is sold directly to buyers or
through brokers.
8 In South India, tea workers receive government set mini-
of institut ional f rameworks than simple prices (Sarkar,
2015).
Acknowledgements:
We would like to t hank the editors of this special issue for
inviting us to contribute, and express gratitude to the re-
viewers and their helpful suggestions. We are also grate-
ful to Fairtrade International for the friendly communica-
tion, and to the workers from different tea plantations for
their warm welcome, and their willingness to share their
thoughts, joys, and sorrows during and after working hours
on the steep hills of Darjeeling.
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Living Wages as a Lifeboat to Rescue Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labor? The Case of Indian Tea Plantations