Consumers with a conscience are helping to uphold York's reputation as a fair-dealing city. STEPHEN LEWIS reports.

IF there is one thing to be sure of in our spend, spend, spend society, it is that consumers have power.

If we show we want something badly enough, those who make their living out of providing it will make sure we can get it.

It is largely down to consumer power that York will tomorrow receive an accolade that seals its reputation for fairness.

At the height of what has been dubbed Fairtrade Fortnight, it is to be declared a Fairtrade city.

It is both a recognition that York is already a city of consumers with a conscience - and a statement that we can do even better.

The Fairtrade accolade comes following months of hard work and campaigning by organisations and individuals across the city - including the city council, which passed a resolution in January supporting York's bid for recognition.

Fairtrade goods are now available at more than 60 venues across York.

While you can't yet do the whole of your weekly shop with Fairtrade yet, the range of goods you can get is rising fast.

To celebrate the achievement, the Lord Mayor of York, Coun Charles Hall, will be hosting a formal reception for 60 guests at the Mansion House tomorrow.

"But this is just the beginning, not the end," says York Fairtrade Forum member Kit Bird. "Awareness has been awakened, and now we've got to make sure it keeps growing, till it's obvious to everyone who visits York that it's a Fairtrade city."

The idea behind Fairtrade is to give producers in the developing world a fair price for their products - everything from coffee to cotton clothing - so they can begin to claw their way out of poverty.

Charlie Bridge, of Fairer World in Gillygate, which stocks a range of Fairtrade goods including coffee, tea, chocolate, dried fruit, crafts and even clothing, says that world markets operate in such a way that very often the people in developing countries who produce the goods we consume receive only a fraction of the final price which consumers here pay.

In the case of coffee, he says - one of the most notorious examples, which is traded on a sophisticated world market and in which a large part of the price we pay goes to pay for advertising - as little as 8p in every £1 of the final supermarket price goes to the people who grow and pick it.

"It is bought at a very low price, sometimes below the price that it costs to produce," he says. With Fairtrade coffee - and other Fairtrade goods - however, the coffee is bought from the people who produce it at a fair price. Payment can also sometimes be made in advance, if, for example, coffee producers need help to tide them over to the next coffee crop.

But perhaps the most important part of the deal is that the farmers, craftspeople and co-operatives in developing countries that produce the goods have a long-term relationship with a buyer they know they can rely on, says Charlie.

It helps give them back control over their own lives. Often, there is even a "premium" payable which local people can put towards long-term projects to improve their lives, such as health or education.

Much of the clothing on sale at Fairer World - tops, jackets, skirts and trousers hand-made from organic cotton - comes from a small village in southern India where once there was chronic unemployment and deprivation. "Now they get a good wage and because it is a long-term relationship they can look to the future," Charlie says.

Fairtrade goods don't even necessarily cost more, Charlie insists - and you can be sure you're getting best quality. "Because the producer gets the best price, they in turn give their best crop," Charlie says.

It's not only specialist shops such as Fairer World where you can now buy Fairtrade goods in York.

A host of shops, coffee bars and even workplace canteens now offer a fairtrade alternative, most usually in the form of tea, coffee, chocolate or dried fruits, but occasionally with a wider range of goods such as crafts and clothing.

They include small outlets including Shared Earth at Minster Gates, organic shops such as Alligator in Fishergate, but also supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda, coffee-bars like Starbucks, and a host of others.

Catherine Heinemeyer, of York Fairtrade Forum, says the range of goods on offer is rising fast. "It has gone up from 130 products to 200 in the last couple of years, and it is rising exponentially," she says. "And the more that consumers ask for Fairtrade goods, the more they will be available."

York Fairtrade Forum has a full directory of shops and other outlets in York that offer Fairtrade goods. Contact yorkfairtrade@yahoo.co.uk or write to York Fair Trade Forum, c/o York CVS, 15 Priory Street, York YO1 6ET

A number of events are being held in York during Fairtrade Fortnight, which runs until March 15.

On Saturday an "Unfair Games" will be held in Rowntree Park from noon to 3pm. Teams from schools and employers around York will compete in "Moving-the-Goalposts Football" and "Loaded Tug-of-War" to show the effect of unfair trade rules on the poor.

A multi-faith Service of Celebration will be held in the chapel of York St John College at 3pm on Sunday March 7.

Businesswoman Rachel Jones will be at El Piano restaurant on Tuesday, from 3-5pm, to talk about her experiences of trading with an Indian women's co-operative.

Updated: 09:03 Thursday, March 04, 2004