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Christmas came early for retailers that rang in the holiday season with high sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. On the two biggest shopping days of the year, sales increased 15 – 20% from 2010. However the holiday cheer is not shared by all. A large majority of today’s popular consumer products are made in whole or in part in Chinese factories under brutal working conditions. According to labor rights groups, Chinese companies continue to repeatedly withhold pay from workers while failing to protect them from injury on the job by dangerous machinery and harmful chemicals. Workers are denied health benefits and reports of child labor abuses are common. Labor unions and labor strikes are outlawed. At Wintek, a major manufacturer for Apple in China, 137 workers fell severely ill from exposure to the toxic chemical n-hexane in 2010. At the Foxconn electronic manufacturing plant in China, 17 workers have committed suicide in the last five years alone, one victim leaving a note explaining he did it to provide for his family. Currently in Shanghai, about 400 women workers are on strike for the second week in a row at the Singapore-owned Hi-P International electronics manufacturer. The company, which makes components for Apple, HP, Blackberry, Motorola, and others, is moving their factory and many employees who are unwilling to move are demanding proper compensation. So far, twelve have been arrested and there have been complaints of police beatings. Most Americans who purchase these consumer goods are unaware or willfully ignorant of the conditions they were made in. Are there other options for Americans who don’t want to spend their hard earned dollars on products made in brutal sweatshop conditions? For about two decades now, there has been a growing movement to certify goods made in developing countries in sustainable conditions that are favorable to workers and the environment, called Fair Trade. A local network of Fair Trade producers and distributors, called Fair Trade LA, or FTLA, offers conscious shoppers progressive alternatives to commercial retail. Tomorrow, several FTLA vendors will be selling their wares at the 6th Annual Fair Trade and Conscious Gifts Holiday Bazaar from 11 am to 4 pm at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Blvd, LA CA 90005 in the Geneva Room.

GUEST: Joan Harper, Coordinator of Fair Trade LA (FTLA), former program consultant for the Office of Peace and Justice at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Find out more at www.fairtradela.org.

The 6th Annual Fair Trade and Conscious Gifts Holiday Bazaar will be held on Saturday December 10th from 11 am to 4 pm at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Blvd, LA CA 90005 in the Geneva Room. Browse through a wide selection of hand-made goods made either internationally with fair-trade standards, or locally by LA-based artists. There will be jewelry, purses, pillow covers, and more from Afghanistan, as well as books, T-shirts, candles, soaps, oils, handicrafts, and much much more.

Confirmed vendors include Afghan Women’s Mission, Ten Thousand Villages, Theo Chocolate, Vida Verde, BeadforLife, Zatoun Palestinian Olive Oil, Los Switcheros del Norte, Southern California Library, Garment Workers Center, Skool Boiz, Radka Falk, Brian Biery, Sunshine, and many more!

Entrance is Free. There will be complementary hot coffee and tea plus delectable cookies and pastries!

Click here for more information: http://www.afghanwomensmission.org/2011/11/6th-annual-holiday-bazaar/

MORE ALTERNATIVE HOLIDAY BAZAARS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA:

All Saints Church in Beverly Hills, 504 N Camden Drive, Beverly Hills, CA
Alternative Gift Market, Sunday, December 11, 10:00am

Silver Lake Art Craft & Vintage at Micheltorena Street Elementary Street School, 1511 Micheltorena St., LA CA 90026
Saturday, December 11 and Saturday, December 18 (10am-4pm)

2nd Annual Holiday Pop-Up Shop at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, 145 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, California 91103
Sunday, December 11th from 10am – 6pm