Councillors and staff at Dudley Council have signed up to support Fairtrade this Fairtrade Fortnight.

Stourbridge Fairtrade invited councillors to sign up before a meeting of full council on Monday 19th February, ahead of Fairtrade Fortnight which runs from today until 11th March.

Party leaders, Councillor Patrick Harley and Councillor Pete Lowe, took the pledge as well as the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, Cllr Ian Kettle cabinet member for regeneration and chief executive, Sarah Norman. Fairtrade Fortnight is the annual campaigning of the Fairtrade Foundation. The theme of this year’s campaign is ‘Come on In’ inviting people to welcome more people into Fairtrade.

Dudley Council is a Fairtrade Council and supports the initiative within the authority and promotes events run by the borough’s two Fairtrade towns, Stourbridge and Sedgley, during Fairtrade Fortnight. The council is hosting a pop-up exhibition in the council house during the fortnight.

Stourbridge Fairtrade is asking people to pledge to support fairtrade and will be putting up displays in local libraries and working with schools to help them learn more about fairtrade.

Members of the group will be interviewed on Black Country Radio at 11am on Sunday 24 February ahead of their main event, a ‘Fairtrade giveaway’ on Saturday 10 March. The group will be pushing trolleys decorated with bunting and balloons round the Ryemarket and the Crown Centre at 10.30am, handing out free Fairtrade goodies to shoppers, including tea, coffee sticks and bananas. They’ll be talking about what Fairtrade means, where people can buy the products and providing samples for them to take home. Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council said:

“Dudley is a Fairtrade Council and Fairtrade Fortnight does a great job of raising awareness and hopefully changing people’s shopping habits.

“The committed volunteers at Stourbridge Fairtrade and Sedgley Fairtrade Initiative have helped to gain and maintain Fairtrade status for their respective towns, and alongside our Fairtrade schools and supporters such as colleagues at Sainsbury’s Amblecote are working hard to make Dudley a Fairtrade borough.”

Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By paying sustainable prices, producers receive a fair wage which allows them to improve their position and have more control over their lives.

For more information on Fairtrade visit fairtrade.org.uk.