I think brands and certifications can provide all the niceness of unions without a lot of the baggage. When things are certified organic, that means something to people. People can then choose whether or not to support organic farms, but they at least have a semi-informed choice. We’re seeing similar progress with fair trade goods, where they are certified to provide their workers with a daily wage that is enough to live on in the local economy.
We can’t force people to choose fair trade or organic, but presenting the option creates awareness that there are options. These marks of certification are provided by organizations whose sole purpose is certification, and whose only asset is the value of their stamp, and are thus very careful about who they certify and how.
What new stamps could be made?
How about and “honest work” stamp, certifying that all of the people who worked on the product had health care and were paid a living wage (which should be at least poverty level/2000)? How about a “happy animal” stamp that certifies that the chickens were allowed to scratch and roam through greenery, that ducks swam on a pond, and that the cows ate grass in a field? How about “local produce” stamps? Put the place of origin on the package in big letters to allow people to choose whether or not to keep their money local!
Economists claim that “the market clearly doesn’t care” about that information because these stamps are not already present, but most people I know would love to have a little more data about their food. Are these eggs from chickens who scratched in dirt and were allowed outside to eat grubs and cluck? Were the workers treated not like shit? Was there any illegal immigrant labor used?
Once provided, information like this creates its own demand, but it’s up to us to start the ball rolling by bootstrapping the process.
