Scenario #1: Making Trade Fair
"A just trading system-in addition to breaking down barriers to promote growth-should enhance the life and dignity of everyone, lessen economic injustice, and help eradicate poverty." (A Call to Solidarity with Africa, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)
About once a month, during your student council meeting, all are invited to stay after the meeting for coffee and donuts. One month, you sign up to help get the coffee ready, so you spend one of the late afternoons brewinga huge amount of coffee. As you are pouring the grounds into the coffee maker for the second or third time, you realize that the coffee your school has provided isnot fair trade certified, meaning that the coffee was most likely grown and produced by people in Central or South America no earning a just wage for their work.
Concerned, you decide to do something about it. As a group, think of a way to respond to this situation. Here are some question to get you started:
· How could you work to get your school to stop supporting companies with bad labor policies? What would you do first?
· How might you learn more about fair trade?
· How could you get more people involved in your efforts? Who in the school's leadership would you talk to? How would you do it?
· How could you raise awareness around the school? What kinds of activities could you plan to address the issue?
ASSIGNMENT DUE DATE IS ON SYLLABUS. Write a social action proposal for improving the conditions of workers within a particular company/corporation.. FORMAT AS FOLLOWS:
Statement of the Problem: Describe the problem. Use real world examples to inform the reader of the urgency of the problem. What exactly are the unjust practices that are occurring in this company/corporation that your are investigating.. Provide some examples of coercion and other violations. Introduce the need for a social action plan. Do NOT generalize. Be specific and introduce real examples. Imagine your reader asking you "who, where, when and what exactly took place and why.
Obligation to Social Action: You should answer this obligation by referring to Arnold and Bowie's article. How does using Kant's individual moral principlesaddress sweatshop issues? What does treating the humanity of persons as ends in themselves require in a business context? Why doMNE's (multinational enterprises) have a duty to ensure that the dignity of workers is respected in the factories of subcontractors doing work for the MNE's? You also need to justify the need for this social action by referring to a social moral principle or principles that you see lacking in sweatshop practices.
Social Partners:Which human rights activists have taken steps in recent years to pressure MNE's to improve the conditions of workers? What steps have they taken to pressure MNE's? What officials or governmental departments can we turn to for aid here? Remember, by partnering with an organization, you will have not only the funds needed but also the credibility needed to convince others to aid and/or donate to your social action plan/cause.
Social Action Plan: Create a social action plan. What could you do? Be creative! Include the following:
(Only an example below)
Goal: (for example: The goal of this action plan is to communicate the urgency of responding to worker conditions in sweatshops.
Objective: My objective is to organize a series of awareness campaigns within the next 6 months for the purpose of communicating this urgency.
Tactics: Volunteers will go door to door within their own communities speaking to neighbors about the problem. They will pass out flyers indicating the need to write letters to the targeted Multinational CEO's. Our flyers will provide a sample letter with lists of what needs to be included. We will provide the names of the CEO's and their addresses to include on the letter and on the envelope. Volunteers will return within the next 24 hours to pick up the letters enclosed in an envelope, but not sealed and with a donation for the cause. Volunteers will also be advertising the cause as they walk door to door in T shirts advertising the cause.
The second awareness campaign will take place at a neighborhood park, where we will set up a small local bandwhich we will advertise on social media and with flyers within the community. We will set up a table where volunteers will have letters printed up for individuals to sign at which time they will be given a pin with an anti-sweat shop logo, etc. etc. [Think of multiple ways to get an audience to respond by using multiple channels to target them.]
Social Impact: What do you hope the impact of this social action plan will be on your audience? What are other positive social impacts that might come of this campaign?
(Proposal should betwo pages, single spaced using times New Roman and number 11 OR 12 font, APA Style for references).