Christmas can appal. Even the most savvy of shoppers can quail before the mountains of battery-powered plastic stocked by the toyshops, the coercive advertising and children's consequent demands.
As the economy booms, sometimes it seems as if there's no alternative to spend, spend, spend, making large corporations richer while their workers sew, paint, assemble and pack, often in atrocious conditions, for very little pay.
It doesn't have to be like that. Mr Michael O'Brien of Oxfam says that with more disposable income at this time of year, consumers can make a difference. "You can play a very important role in areas such as human rights and labour rights," he says.
Public awareness is increasing. Just this week, a group of Manchester United shareholders expressed concerns about a £300 million deal with Nike in light of allegations that Nike subcontracts to a factory in Cambodia which employs children in sweatshop labour.
The shareholders wanted the deal to go ahead only if the club was satisfied that Nike is "100 per cent clean on the this issue of the use of child labour".
What can you do? Mr O'Brien says buying goods that you know have been fairly traded ensures workers' rights are respected.
Oxfam's 35 shops around the State stock a range of fairly traded products from sisal gold angels for the Christmas tree to Indian coir animals to photo frames from Indonesia.
Their organic festive pudding (available from 17 shops) contains Mexican honey, Brazil nuts, cashew nuts and sultanas. The cashew nuts come from farming families in southern El Salvador, the honey from remote areas of the Mexican sierras while the brazil nuts are gathered by farmers in the jungles of Peru. It costs £5.95. An organic festive cake costs £9.95.
The fair trade concept was born about 40 years ago when organisations such as Oxfam began to sell crafts and food products made by marginalised producers. Fair trade labelling began in the 1980s and 17 countries are now involved.
Members of the Fair Trade Labelling Organisations International have agreed common principles including no child labour, decent working conditions, the recognition of trade unions, environmental sustainability and a social premium to improve conditions.
Mr Peter Gaynor of Fairtrade Mark Ireland says Fairtrade coffee and tea is available in the Republic and Fairtrade bananas are on sale in Northern Ireland. Fairtrade coffee accounted for 1 per cent of the Irish catering market last year and it is expected to reach 3 per cent this year. Mr Gaynor's Christmas wish is that people would ask their employers to convert to Fairtrade tea and coffee. Six catering companies now offer Fairtrade brands. If your local supermarket doesn't stock Fairtrade products, ask why not?
With a limited availability of a narrow range of fairly traded goods (mostly crafts and foodstuffs), the consumer is still faced with a dilemma. How can you be sure that a company or its suppliers are treating their workers ethically? Fairtrade is a product-specific guarantee, supporting marginalised producers and workers, ethical trade aims to support all workers.
There are just 2,000 self-styled socially responsible businesses in the world with an annual turnover of about $2 billion between them. This is a mere one-hundreth of 1 per cent of the $20 trillion in sales from 80 to 100 mil lion enterprises worldwide, according to the New Internationa list. Nobody wants to think that the doll their daughter is playing with is soiled with the blood and sweat of another little girl.
In Ireland, the Ethical Trade Initiative will soon launch a campaign to demand a fair deal for Asian toy workers. This is the third year of the campaign which highlights the poor working conditions and low wages experienced by many workers in Asia who produce toys for the European and US markets. The initiative is a partnership between ICTU, Trocaire, Christian Aid, Development Education for Youth and the Irish Fair Trade Network.
It explains that cheap labour costs and an absence of trade unions have encouraged multinational companies to move much of their production to countries such as China. The same goods can be made for a fraction of the cost, but with little concern for the conditions in which people live and work.
The International Labour Organisation defines fundamental workers' rights in its 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. They include freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour, the effective abolition of child labour and the elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation.
Last year's campaign highlighted the plight of toy workers in China earning as little as £1.20 a day. In the Guangdong province, where 75 per cent of toys are manufactured, some workers reported earning as little as £22.70 a month. ETI quotes one worker: "I have been working in Zhongmei for two years as an assembly line worker. My monthly wage is about £54.45. After paying for meals and the dormitory fee, I get only about £36.30 . . .
"I have no money to send home . . . I never think of the future but just work day to day." She was working in the Zhongmei factory making Barbie dolls.
There has been some progress. The Ethical Trade Initiative is part of a global campaign which has led some toy companies to develop codes of conduct for their suppliers to follow. However, while many companies publicise these codes, few have agreed to publicise the results. Mattel (makers of Barbie) has responded to pressure by introduced a monitoring process.
Ms Miriam McHardy, Trocaire's Belfast campaigns manager, says consumers should not boycott products, as it would affect the toy workers adversely.
Instead, she says, "when you buy toys and gifts, keep the receipt. Post it to the manufacturer along with a letter of concern, asking the company about their ethical policies." This alerts the manufacturer that you are a bona fide customer with real concerns. It might also be worth writing to the store manager, she says. Trocaire's website has sample letters available.
Websites: www.trocaire.org www.oxfam.org.uk has an online shopping facility
www.fairtradefederation.com/ lists both online and mail order shopping opportunities.
www.amrc.org Asia Monitor Resource Centre
www.newint.org The New Internationalist