Issue 5 – Thursday 3 August
Not so Fairytrade...
Christian Halliwell & Ben Pearce, V14
The fair-trade credentials of the Fairytrade Cafe have been thrown into doubt by the discovery of non-fair trade goods on their shelves.
Punters have been served Cadbury's chocolate and Walker's crisps, as well as Tesco Value juices – none of them fair trade, according to the fair trade website.
Ellie Fairhall, one of the cafe's representatives, said that the current stock is ''emergency supplies'' after unprecedented sales of fruit juices over the first two days. The fair trade suppliers to the cafe were unable to deliver new stock immediately, thus requiring a speedy, if non-fair trade solution.
Asked why the cafe bought from a mega-bucks company rather than purchasing fair trade products from the supermarket, or at least supporting local businesses, she conceded: ''We're shit, you try running a cafe."
As hard as a job like this may be, which is appreciated and admired by all, the cafe seems to be disgracing its own mission statement and ethics. As the chief supplier of confectionery to Global Village it may seem that Woodies have lost their faith in the Cafe's ability to spread the good fair trade message.
However, fear not, fair trade is on its way. The cafe expects a delivery of stock within the next couple of days.