Thank You Keri for covering our campaign. To avoid confusion I would like to clarify a couple items; The goal of Fair Trade Healdsburg is to raise awareness of fair trade and give recognition to those local businesses that carry at least two fair trade items, this does not mean that they need to become, or are, a fair trade store. There are currently ten businesses that meet this criteria, the 10th being Arboretum Apparel. Our goal for Healdsburg, as a town, is to also gain recognition vs. certification as a town that supports the core concepts of fair trade like environmental sustainability, equality, and poverty alleviation, access to education and health care and building a sustainable business. Healdsburg is a town of many socially conscious consumers and businesses and already meets all of the requirements for "recognition". With the support of City Council, Healdsburg will be the next Recognized Fair Trade Town in the U.S., just behind San Francisco and Berkeley but the first in Sonoma County!

Question to Raymond - Does concept of fair trade extend to those in this country or more specifically - in our town? My daughter worked at the first "fair trade" jewelry shop on Matheson a few years ago. The store paid $8 per hour with zero benefits. This obviously is an unsustainable wage for single adult. The store front had signage bragging about the concept of fair trade but, of course, did not mention anything about their own employees. Smacks of hypocrisy to me. Unless, the advertisers of fair trade are willing to pay wages to local staff with the same concept that they are capitalizing on - keep them out. Wayne Rogers

Hello Wayne, I would like to address your concern. All employees with little to no experience hired at our shop will begin at minimum wage, as with most retail shops on the plaza. With time and experience our employees will move up in wages earned. Here in the U.S., we have labor regulations in place such as minumum wage, overtime, meal and rest period, Family and Medical Leave Act, Pregnancy Discrimination, Gender Discrimination, Child Labor laws and others. These regulations that we enjoy are just not available to many people in developing countries. We currently have seven wonderful and very happy employees on our staff. Full-time employees receive full benefits including fully paid healthcare. Thank you for the opportunity to share. Ray Ballestero

@Raymond Ballestero & @Wayne Rogers: Thanks for your comments, all of which improve the public dialogue and clear up confusion on this issue. Raymond, I'm wondering if you might consider doing a weekly blog on Healdsburg Patch on Fair Trade, sustainability, and "green" lifestyle tips and changes for people? I think many people are interested in doing what they can to enhance our community, but they are not ready to change everything. They need some kind of doable entree, such as buying one Fair Trade item a week or shopping at Healdsburg Farmers Market -- to support fair trade practices and local farmers, for example. Your column could be an educational factor in that. Let me know at keri.brenner@patch.com. Thanks again.

Wayne, it seems that your disagreement is that you disagree that minimum wage is not a “sustainable wage”, and if so, then we are not providing a fair wage to our employees, which you consider contradictory to our principles and values.

The minimum wage in California is currently $8.00/hr. A full time minimum wage worker in California working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, will earn $64.00 per day, $320.00 per week, and $16,640.00 per year. The national poverty line for a family unit consisting of two people is $14,570 per year. And while this is not considered a high wage, I do consider it to be a fair wage for entry level employment with no experience. Compare this with an estimated 1.4 billion people living in poverty and existing on less than $1.25 per day.

I would also like to address your statement that we “benefit from selling a concept that people want to patronize” Our products sell on their own merit. Because we are fully committed to Fair Trade, our goal is to not only provide an outlet for these marginalized producers but to raise awareness and understanding of Fair Trade as a socially responsible business model. One of the principles is to develop Transparent & Accountable Relationships which includes relationships that are open, fair, consistent and respectful. So what you consider a selling concept, we consider social justice.

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You are correct that there is no comparison with our government regulations and the living conditions throughout the world. Did you know that 15,000 children aged 9 to 12 in the Ivory Coast alone have been sold into forced labor on conventional cotton, coffee, and cocoa plantations and that 284,000 children in the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon are working in hazardous tasks on conventional cocoa farms?

We currently pay higher wages than most other retail shops in our area. With only 900 sq. ft. of retail space, a modest markup and significant overhead due to location, I am proud of our employment practices and the ability to provide an income for those that we do. We go above and beyond all labor regulations established for California and we meet all the criteria set by the Fair Trade Federation, a third party validation of our Fair Trade Practices.

Our principles and values are genuine and I am grateful to our staff of seven employees whom share our passion and commitment for social justice. My hope is that even the most cynical person will realize the value of Fair Trade through open dialog and outreach.

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In a world governed by supply and demand, consumers retain the ultimate say in what goods will sell. We are grateful for the strong support of locals whom frequent and support our shop. We look forward to continuing to provide employment locally as well as providing an outlet and a voice for many marginalized people in developing countries.

Feel free to contact me via email: rayballestero@sbcglobal.net for further discussion.