Workers are best positioned to improve their livelihoods when they can collectively bargain for better terms and conditions of their employment—including wages. Collective bargaining is predicated on the right of workers to organize in unions entitled to enter into collective agreements, a right suppressed in many places around the world. The GLWC and its members support unions and employers by providing relevant data to inform their wage negotiations, involving them in producing that data, and raising awareness for living wages around the world.

Continue reading the statement.

The post Living Wage Benchmarks support collective bargaining appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

The GLWC was thrilled to see a high level of interest on the topic of living wage measurement and progress, with over 300 participants located across 64 countries and representing over 60 industries.  

Setting the Stage for Ongoing Progress 

After introducing the GLWC, Kristin Komives (Director of Programmes, ISEAL) offered keynote remarks, speaking to the current state of living wages, which have moved from a fringe subject to the forefront of global conversation around sustainability and human rights. As living wages move from voluntary to mandatory requirements with upcoming HREDD legislation, she remarked on the need to move beyond conversation to practical implementation at scale. She emphasized the need to measure and recognize progress toward closing living wages gaps, which requires a collaborative and continuous approach from stakeholders.  

Resource: ISEAL’s Framework for Credible Living Wage Claims 

Measurement Approaches 

Marcelo Delajara (Deputy Director and Senior Researcher, ARI) continued the conversation by underscoring the importance of credible living wage estimates and assessment tools in measuring progress in closing living wage gaps. Describing the characteristics of credible living wage and prevailing wage estimates, he highlighted the need for alignment among stakeholders.  

Throughout the discussion, the importance of robust data collection and tools for measuring living wage progress was repeated. Daantje Bras (Fundraiser and Partnership Coordinator, CNV Internationaal) spoke to the importance of a bottom-up approach towards living wages and the importance of worker and union engagement in the process. She described CNV’s Fair Work Monitor tool, developed in collaboration with the Anker Research Institute, which measures living wage gaps and empowers unions and workers to with data to inform their collective voice.  

Petter Forslund (Engagement Manager at AP2 and Member of Platform Living Wage Financials) introduced the Platform Living Wage Financials – an alliance of financial institutions committed to enabling living wages and living incomes in supply chains. From this perspective, he emphasized the need for companies to take data-driven approaches for investors to better understand what progress is being made on the ground. 

Progressive Efforts 

All speakers agreed on the importance of embracing progressive improvement efforts, reminding the audience that closing living wage gaps will take time. Past experience in other contexts of complex social issues have made clear that a binary compliance approach cannot solve systemic problems. Marcelo Delajara (ARI) emphasized that, in the case of living wages, this approach also risks further marginalizing low-income countries that are starting with a larger living wage gap. As such, tools and measurement approaches must be focused on measuring and holding companies accountable for progress, but not on cutting off or denouncing those that are still working to close the gap. 

Panelists agreed that the most important first step for companies is to set realistic time-bound commitments, focusing on long-term sustainability instead of short-term targets, and to stick to their commitments. 

Supporting Progress 

Another theme that emerged in the discussion was the need for capacity building and tailored approaches and resources. Debora Rosado (Director, Standards and Implementation Resources, Fairtrade USA) described Fairtrade USA’s framework for tailored living wage approaches and improvement plans for different sectors (factories and agricultural organizations) in their certification program, which are based on their initial capacity. 

Christie Daly (Director of Corporate Programs, SAI) explained that among other challenges, a lack of internal knowledge at companies is often a barrier to closing living wage gaps. There are a variety of strategies companies can take to address this, such as training for internal teams and suppliers, conducting current wage and gap assessments by using concrete tools and calculators, and assessing purchasing practices. 

Get Involved 

Interested in continuing the conversation? There are plenty of ways to continue momentum to achieve living wages: 

Companies: Invest in high-quality benchmarks. Email: inquiries@ankerinstitute.org 

Advocacy groups, researchers, consultants, unions, and workers: Read, share, and use the benchmarks for your work. Visit: www.globallivingwage.org 

Standard-setter or non-profit: Join the GLWC! Email: glwc@globallivingwage.org 

All: stay up to date with the latest news and estimates: www.globallivingwage.org/subscribe  

View the Webinar

→ Download the slides. 

The post GLWC Dialogue: Measuring Progress to Close Living Wage Gaps appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

Image credit: David Sonluna

The post September 2024 Newsletter appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

Living Wage Report for Urban Banten and Urban West Java Indonesia: The findings in this report reflect the research carried out in estimating the living wage, employing the Anker Methodology, in three districts: South Tangerang in the province of Banten and Garut and Subang in the province of West Java, in Indonesia.

Living Income Report for Rural Lampung Province, Indonesia: The findings in this report reflect the research carried out in estimating the living income for coffee farmers, employing the Anker Methodology, in Lampung Province, Indonesia.

Note: All the benchmark reports, whether living wage or living income, contain both living wage and living income estimates! In the LI report – the LW is in an annex. In the LW reports, the LI is contained within the report (as the cost of a decent standard of living for the worker and their family).

The post Two new benchmark studies in Indonesia appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

Shaping the Global Conversation—Living wages are not an impossible goal

After an introduction about the GLWC, Kristin Komives, Director of Programmes at ISEAL, offered keynote remarks, speaking to the core principles that led to the GLWC’s establishment. At the time of its founding, the lack of a widely agreed upon definition of a living wage and a widely agreed methodology for estimating a living wage led to paralysis around this issue in the global community. Sustainability standards organizations recognized that the lack of alignment around the definition and measurement of living wage was holding back the living wage movement. Komives emphasized that it was not a clear and easy path to partnership around this issue, but “through passion and persistence, the group was able to overcome early differences and arrive at alignment and a partnership that became the GLWC.”

This hard work to reach alignment and to proactively promote the GLWC definition and Anker Methodology as the gold standard paid off. As Dr. Elizabeth Bennett highlighted in her comments, the way the global conversation around living wages has shifted in the past ten years is “absolutely astounding.” Her research has seen a marked change in the way companies talk about living wages, from an “impossible goal” only five years ago, to widespread acceptance in the past couple of years. “The technical challenges and market problems… are giving way to planning, pilot programs, and public promises of change.” Bennett highlighted the positive contributions of the GLWC in helping move forward global dialogue on living wages.

Robust research in service of informed action

In addition to members’ passion and persistence, the unique features of the Anker Methodology strongly contributed to the GLWC’s success. The Anker Research Institute (ARI) presented some of the key features of its methodology, including its commitment to in-person field research often led by local researchers who are familiar with the country and context, engaging stakeholders along the way.

Findings are furthermore validated through an in-person stakeholder validation process, and published in accordance with strong transparency principles. Crucially, the methodology itself and all official Anker living wage and living income estimates are freely available online through the GLWC website – a norm that has since been adopted by other leading methodology and estimate organizations. The Anker methodology is fully aligned with the ILO Principles for Evidence-Based Living Wage Estimates.

Such levels of local engagement and robustness of research principles are essential to creating estimates that reflect the needs and customs of workers and families in each location. Unlike other methods, Martha and Richard Anker added, the Anker Methodology uses a flexible basket of goods and services, embedding worker agency in each living wage estimate. Their locally-embedded and gender-aware research, balanced with rigorous methodology, ensures comparability and consistency across estimates.

This robustness has allowed ARI to collect high-quality, detailed data around the world, enabling them to develop new estimation products, Reference Values and Sub-National Estimates, that extend their reach to many more countries and sub-regions within countries.

Supporting companies in their living wage efforts

The robust Anker methodology combined with a large-number of locally specific estimates are critical for companies, who are increasingly looking to pursue living wage strategies and commitments in supply chains. Meanwhile, GLWC members have contributed to disproving the arguments made by many that technical challenges would make living wages impossible, ushering a raft of tools and guidance to inform concrete action. Saskia Bloch and Sina Hauser from Fenix Outdoor AB, member of Fair Labor Association (FLA), shared how they have made use of Anker Estimates and FLA’s Wage Data Collection Tool to propel their living wage program over the past three years.

These resources are also invaluable for standard-setters and NGOs who are new to the issue of living wages. Jean Johnson, Human Rights Programme Manager at ASC, shared how instrumental the knowledge and support of the GLWC and its other members has been in helping them introduce a living wage component to their aquaculture standards for the first time.

Living wage action matters, regardless of sector maturity

Throughout the discussion, speakers were clear-eyed about the implementation challenges that remain. While the conversation has advanced significantly in many sectors, others lag behind and still require widespread awareness raising to bring companies on board. Luckily, having common definitions, methods, tools, and recommended first steps creates a strong entry point for companies just entering the conversation.

The important thing is to start making progress where you can, as several speakers emphasized throughout the event. As standard-setting organizations, GLWC members work to find ways to hold companies accountable for making progress towards living wages, when many may be learning about the concept for the first time or starting from scratch. Gina Villareal, Project Manager for Living Wage and Living Income at UEBT shared that they started by asking companies to conduct effective measurement of current wages across their organization—something that many are not already equipped to do. From there, companies should set realistic, time-bound objectives to begin improving wages and work towards living wages for some, and ultimately all supply chain workers.

Importantly, living wages cannot be achieved through efforts targeting direct employers alone. Buyers downstream in the value chain, unions, industry associations, and governments are crucial in the effort to secure sustainable livelihoods for workers and their families. As shared by Wilbert Flinterman of Fairtrade International, sector-wide collaboration has been the key to securing living wages for Fairtrade workers in the banana industry. Several speakers also emphasized the role of governments to create policies and structures that connect the dots across supply chains, to prevent the burden of raising wages from falling solely on producers, suppliers, and local sourcing companies.

Get Involved

The GLWC was thrilled to see a high level of interest in the topic of living wage, with this public webinar garnering interest from close to 900 registrants from 80 individual countries. The next GLWC webinar will be held in November 2024. In the meantime, there are many ways to continue the conversation and momentum to achieve living wages:

Companies: Invest in high-quality benchmarks. Email: inquiries@ankerinstitute.org

Advocacy groups, researchers, consultants, unions, and workers:  Read, share, and use the benchmarks for your work. Visit: www.globallivingwage.org

Standard-setter or non-profit:  Join the GLWC! Email: glwc@globallivingwage.org

All: stay up-to-date with the latest news and estimates: www.globallivingwage.org/subscribe

The post 10 Years of GLWC Action on Living Wages: perspectives from GLWC members appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

This video is a beautiful opportunity to meet the trailblazers who started the GLWC, the expert global researchers behind the Anker estimates and the champions behind the standard setters who are turning the research into action.

Anker Research Institute is proud to be part of the GLWC and grateful for the unwavering support and collaboration throughout the years from the GLWC’s members. The GLWC’s commitment to utilizing our living wage and living income estimates and advocating for living wages has been instrumental in advancing all our missions.

Thank you to everyone who came to support and celebrate with us.

The post GLWC 10 Year Celebration appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

If I got training in ironing or cutting, I could do it – and I’m very interested in doing it, I’d like to get paid more. But I haven’t been asked by management and I’m afraid to ask.”

A new blog post by Anker Research Institute researcher, Sally Smith, lays out some of the common reasons given by workers in 12 workplaces and five countries when asked why certain jobs are dominated by women and others by women. These include:

• Women lack opportunities and confidence to acquire new skills
• Gender stereotypes influence the jobs women apply for and are given
• Women find it difficult to work in areas dominated by men

Read more about these challenges and recommendations for how to address them in the full post on the Anker Research Institute website.

Cover photo by Matthias Mitterlehner on Unsplash

The post Blog: What’s behind Gender Pay Gaps? appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

One of the early disruptors in the living wage movement was the Global Living Wage Coalition (the GLWC). The idea emerged in 2012 when three standard-setting organisations (Social Accountability International (SAI), Fairtrade International and GoodWeave), came together recognising that despite the uptake of their sustainability standards in key sectors, worker wages remained deplorable, especially in developing countries. Coming together to tackle the issue was a good first step, but the lack of a commonly agreed definition on what a living wage was and clarity on how to measure it were significant barriers to action.

To overcome this, these schemes teamed up with international wage experts Martha and Richard Anker to work towards these goals. Soon thereafter, they were joined by Rainforest Alliance, UTZ Certified, Sustainable Agriculture Network, and Forest Stewardship Council, thus giving birth to the Global Living Wage Coalition. Their shared mission: to go beyond minimum wage requirements and strive for real improvements in workers’ conditions worldwide. Today, the GLWC’s definition of a living wage is globally recognised and the Anker Methodology for calculating living wages is upheld as the best in class, in full accordance with recently issued ILO guidelines for estimating living wages.

GLWC members gathered in Amsterdam in September 2023.

A unique knowledge-action partnership

What knowledge is needed to support and inform action on the ground? And can action from the ground inform research methods and approaches? This symbiotic relationship between knowledge and research lies at the heart of the GLWC’s approach and is the key to supporting genuine wage improvement plans within supply chains.

The GLWC is comprised of two complementary parts—the Anker Research Institute (ARI) (led by Richard and Martha Anker), who lead the research and knowledge generation; and the Action Network, comprised of organisations working within supply chains with companies, employers and workers to advance on wages. The Action Network is today led by Fairtrade International, Rainforest Alliance and Social Accountability International, with newer supporting members Aquaculture Stewardship Council, Bonsucro, Fair Labor Association, Fairtrade USA and Union for Ethical Biotrade (UEBT).

What binds the action network together is alignment and commitment to the Anker Methodology, continuous improvement and innovation, research and action together, collaboration and support for collective bargaining. These principles guide the GLWC’s work, ensuring a cohesive approach when striving for a decent standard of living for all workers and their families.

The role of the GLWC over the last decade

Over the last ten years, one of the key achievements of the GLWC has been to invest in the Anker Methodology and directly fund the development of a large bank of credible living wage benchmarks for different sectors and geographies in the developing world. Today, we have independently measured and publicly available living wage and living income estimates for more than 100 locations in over 50 countries –  being used by unions, companies and standard-setters and auditing companies to improve wages for workers.

The investment in the Anker Methodology and Research Institute is not limited to benchmarks alone—the GLWC has also supported improvement and innovation in the Anker approach, including the development of reference values, national and sub-national estimates and more recently the credible valuation of in-kind benefits. All of these developments directly stemmed from action-based research needs and will have a lasting impact on the ability of supply chain actors to credibly advance on living wages.

This knowledge and data emerging from the Anker Research Institute has been used by the GLWC’s members and others to operationalize living wages within supply chains in a range of ways. For standard-setters, this data enabled the inclusion of living wages within their standards and assessing progress by certified operations towards living wage benchmarks. For companies, the availability of such estimates became the first step towards calculating living wage gaps and considerations around how to bridge them. For the rest of the world, the availability of independently researched, globally comparable and publicly available estimates of living wages laid bare how low worker wages were in most regions and why a focus on minimum wages was utterly insufficient.

The GLWC has also been vocal in supporting grassroots wage campaigns around the world, including our support for the ‘Good Clothes Fair Pay’ campaign and the recent protest in Bangladesh by garment workers fighting for higher wages.

Looking ahead to the next ten years

As we celebrate this milestone, we look to the future, envisioning a world where wages uphold the dignity of labour. With its priorities set for 2024-2026, the GLWC aims to guide and inspire effective action within the living wage movement. Elevating worker-driven actions, informing supply chain actors, and guiding policymakers are key components of this objective, as well as building understanding and driving conversations around success and meaningful steps.

Facilitating action through alignment is another core objective. Ensuring the sustainability of the Anker living wage estimates, expanding the use of the Anker Methodology, and fostering alignment on measurement and definitions form the crux of this objective. Public access to high-quality, consistent research remains a priority to empower stakeholders, promoting a shared understanding of effective practices.

Alongside the GLWC’s priorities, the ARI underlines its commitment to consolidating and expanding the Anker Sub-National Living Wage Estimates program. The ARI seeks to increase the coverage of living wage and living income estimates across the Global South and develop research projects supporting the payment of living wages to vulnerable groups. ARI also endeavours to establish itself as the primary resource for discussion and data on living wage by enhancing the ARI website. Together, the GLWC and ARI are dedicated to collaborating with global stakeholders to sustain the living wage and living income movement.

Join our public dialogue this year

This year, which marks a decade of the GLWC’s work and commitment to global wage improvement, we will be hosting two public dialogues to advance our collective understanding. Our first dialogue will focus on bringing the unique knowledge-action partnership to life. The session will explore what it means to run an action-oriented research program and why this orientation is critical. The second dialogue will concentrate on social dialogue and worker participation in the living wage movement. We look forward to having you join us in commemorating the last ten years and looking forward to the next.

The post Ten years on: the GLWC’s role in shaping the living wage movement appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

I believe that after so many years, also thanks to the work of the Anker Research Institute, the global banana industry has all the tools and mechanisms it needs to bring about Living Wages for all in the banana sector.”

Wilbert Flinterman, Fairtrade International

Read the full blog post from Wilbert on the Anker Research Institute website →

The post Living Wages for banana workers: when will workers see the difference? appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

On 19-23 February 2024, the International Labour Organization (ILO) held in Geneva a ‘Meeting of Experts’ around the issue of living wage, composed of eight experts nominated by Governments, eight experts nominated by the Employers’ group, and eight experts nominated by the Workers’ group. Conclusions reached during the meeting were endorsed by the ILO’s Governing Body on 13 March 2024.

The ILO meeting led to: “identify key institutions and ILO principles of wage setting; outline the concept of the living wage; identify principles that estimations of living wages should follow and general considerations regarding methodologies to estimate living wages; review current living wages initiatives; give guidance for the operationalization of living wages; and provide recommendations for future action by the Office.” The full ILO report can be found on their website.

The Global Living Wage Coalition (GLWC) commends the ILO’s recognition of the importance of living wage and its efforts to advance discussion and action towards the provision of an adequate living wage for all workers. Decent wages are essential in reducing poverty and inequality, as well as in ensuring a decent and dignified life and in advancing social justice for all workers globally. We welcome the conclusions and recommendations reached by the ILO’s expert meeting, following its tripartite discussions on wage policies and living wage, and its efforts to support future action on these topics.

In particular, we welcome the following conclusions, endorsed by the ILO Governing Body:

• The call for an evidenced-based approach to the estimation of living wage based on robust data and statistics, strong local consultation, socio-economic factors and public availability
• The strengthening of collective bargaining and social dialogue as the proper modality for setting and adjusting wages over time towards the achievement of a living wage
• The operationalization of living wage policies considering both needs of workers and economic factors to ensure sustainable rise in wages without adverse impacts
• The call to ensure that wage policies and wage-setting processes promote gender equality, equity and non-discrimination

As a thought leader and influencer in the global living wage movement for over a decade, the GLWC’s work has upheld these principles and supported wage advancement in many sectors across the globe, especially supporting vulnerable workers in developing countries. The GLWC will continue its work on living wage, upholding the Anker methodology and its evidenced-based approach. We would add that it is also important that living wage estimation efforts maintain the independence of researchers involved and ensure the use of a methodology that allows for cross-country comparison.

We look forward to working with the ILO on the development of its wage-policies and on the operationalization of living wages to support millions of workers across the globe.

The Global Living Wage Coalition is a voluntary coalition of organizations working together to deliver knowledge and information to drive effective action toward a decent standard of living for working people and their families worldwide. GLWC members include the Anker Research Institute (ARI) and eight voluntary sustainability schemes, namely Fairtrade International, Rainforest Alliance, Social Accountability International, Aquaculture Stewardship Council, Bonsucro, Fair Labor Association, Fair Trade USA, and Union for Ethical BioTrade – in partnership with ISEAL.

The GLWC and ARI have published robust, independently measured living wage and living income estimates for more than 100 locations in over 50 countries using the Anker Methodology. These estimates are being used by companies, trade unions, standard setting voluntary schemes, auditing companies and others to help raise wages for workers. In addition to our living wage estimates meeting all ILO principles for living wage estimates, they are also internationally comparable – we believe this is important to prevent unfair competition between sourcing origins in global supply chains based on low wages.

Learn more at: https://www.globallivingwage.org/ and https://www.ankerresearchinstitute.org/.  

Read some of the latest work from the ARI: Gender Pay Gaps in Global Supply Chains: Findings from Workplaces in Bangladesh, Colombia, Morocco, Thailand, and Turkey (February 2024)

Download statement as PDF

The post GLWC welcomes ILO’s milestone agreement on living wages appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.