LESSONS from OUR GLOBAL LIVING WAGE NETWORK Living Wage Foundation August 2021
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LESSONS FROM OUR GLOBAL LIVING WAGE NETWORK Living Wage Foundation August 2021 Global FOREWARD 3 SECTORAL APPROACHES 0 5 TO LIVING WAGES 33 5.1 ACT on Living Wages 35 5.2 World Banana Forum 37 INTRODUCTION 5 1 5.3 Malawi Tea 2020 Revitalisation Programme Towards Living Wages 39 THE CONCEPT OF A KEY LESSONS FOR COUNTRIES/ 2 LIVING WAGE 6 REGIONS INTENDING TO DEVELOP 6 NATIONAL LIVING WAGE INITIATIVES 41 THE UK LIVING WAGE 3 APPROACH 10 3.1 Community Power 12 7 CONCLUSION 43 3.2 Corporate Power 14 3.3 Political Power 17 USEFUL RESOURCES 45 8 GLOBAL LIVING WAGE NETWORK INITIATIVES 19 4 4.1 British Columbia - Canada 20 APPENDIX 46 4.2 Hong Kong 23 9 1: UK Calculation Methodology 46 4.3 New Zealand/Aotearoa 24 2: Global Living Wage Network websites 47 4.4 United States of America 27 3: Interviewees 47 4.5 South Africa 31 FOREWORD 0. Foreword This year (2021) marks 10 years and that urgent action needs of the Living Wage Foundation to be taken in solidarity with and 20 years of the Living Wage workers everywhere. We live campaign in the UK. During that in an interconnected world, time, over 8,000 employers have and as shockwaves caused by joined a movement that has the COVID-19 crisis continue to collectively secured pay rises be felt across complex global for over 270,000 UK workers, supply chains, we know that putting £1.4bn back into their a coordinated international pockets. This achievement response is needed. Multinational is testament to the scale of employers are also stepping up collaboration needed to agree to meet their responsibilities on how a Living Wage is as key actors for achievement defined and how it should be of the 2030 Sustainable implemented across all sectors Development Goals (SDGs), and locations across the country. and this includes payment of a Living Wage across global However, it is clear that operations, which we know is national efforts can no longer linked to achievement of at be progressed in isolation, least eight of the SDGs.1 This Graham Griffiths, Director, Living Wage Foundation Lessons from our Global Living Wage Network p. 3 0. Foreword is why we have connected It has been encouraging to with Living Wage movements see the issue of Living Wage around the world to establish move up the global agenda a Global Living Wage Network as a critical path to economic dedicated to the development of recovery that benefits both a holistic approach that is fully businesses and workers. I hope appropriate to local contexts. the lessons contained within this report show that with the right Our principles2 for a Global Living level of collaboration, ending in- Wage have been central to our work poverty is possible. work with partners in a growing number of countries, where civil society bodies, trade unions, employers, and academics are in close collaboration to ensure that the everyday needs of workers are met. Together we have learned some important lessons along the way, and we are delighted to share some of them here, from Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the US, and South Africa, as well as our own from the UK. Lessons from our Global Living Wage Network p. 4 1 INTRODUCTION The Living Wage Foundation Wage campaigns a consistent (LWF) has for some years been framework within which to exploring development of a develop. global mechanism to support the advancement of Living Wage There are also plans to initiatives around the world. As establish a Global Living actors in a range of countries Wage secretariat that can and regions work to build and provide a common framework, strengthen their own national definitions, benchmarks and movements, many have sought guidance to national Living to understand what lessons from Wage initiatives globally. To the UK - where the world’s first this end LWF is commissioning national Living Wage3 initiative a study to draw out key lessons has been established - might be from across its Global Living successfully applied to their local Wage Network. These include context. a closer look at how the LWF and its predecessors created In 2015 the LWF conducted a an enabling environment in the series of global consultations UK for the implementation of a in partnership with the ACCA Living Wage movement that has (Association of Chartered succeeded in persuading over Certified Accountants) to develop 8,000 employers so far, including 3: NB the term ‘national Living Wage’ initiative is used here in the context of a Living Wage initiative in any country that a set of core Living Wage two fifths of the FTSE 100, to pay aims to operate at a national level. It is not to be confused principles that offer existing the real Living Wage. with the UK’s so called ‘National Living Wage’ – the term it uses to describe its minimum wage for those over 23 years and nascent national Living of age. Lessons from our Global Living Wage Network p. 5 2 THE CONCEPT OF A LIVING WAGE 2. The concept of a Living Wage The preamble to the 1919 International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions refers to “the provision of an adequate Living Wage” as one of the conditions of labour that are urgently required to prevent “such injustice, hardship and privation to large numbers of people as to produce unrest so great that the peace and harmony of the world are imperilled.” The ILO itself had been established precisely in response to the “unrest” of the First World War and is founded on the belief that “universal and lasting peace can be accomplished only if it is based on social justice.” Living Wages are at the heart of social justice. The concept is reinforced by Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which holds that: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of Source: inequality.org his family, including food, clothing, Lessons from our Global Living Wage Network p. 7 2. The concept of a Living Wage Figure 1: World population living in extreme poverty, 1820-20156 housing and medical care and Further, as anthropologist Jason necessary social services, and the Hickel pointed out in response to 100% Number of right to security in the event of the chart, “The $1.90-a-day line is people not in unemployment, sickness, disability, “obscenely low,” and “earning $2 extreme poverty widowhood, old age or other lack of per day doesn’t mean that you’re livelihood in circumstances beyond somehow suddenly free of extreme 80% his control.” poverty.” He argues that a minimum of $7.40 per day is necessary for Sadly, over 100 years after the “basic nutrition and normal human 60% birth of the ILO, the struggle to life expectancy.”5 He also points ensure that everyone achieves a out that imperialism brought large decent standard of living continues. parts of the world population Although poverty worldwide has who did not traditionally have a 40% reduced significantly in recent money-based community into the decades (see Figure 1), about money economy, binding them into 736 million people remain living dependence on low paid jobs to 20% in extreme poverty.4 But being in serve global trade. employment offers no guarantee of Number of financial safety; around 858 million Of course this figure of $7.40 people living in extreme poverty workers are still living in extreme cannot apply accurately to 0% as well as moderate poverty (see everyone in every part of the planet 1820 1850 1900 1950 2000 2015 Figure 2). regardless of the cost of living, Notes: Extreme poverty is defined as living at a consumption (or income) level below 1.90 “international $” per day. International $ are adjusted for price differences between countires and for price changes over time (inflation). family size, local norms etc. So the Source: OWID based on World Bank (2016) and Bourguignon and Morrisson (2002). OurWorldInData.org/extreme- poverty/ • CC BY-SA Figure 1: Number of people in extreme poverty 1820-2015. Our World in Data (Reproduced in Vox). Lessons from from National our Global Living Living Wage Wage Initiatives Network p.p. 88 2. The concept of a Living Wage Figure 2: Snapshot of the global labour market, 20187 question of exactly how much is such as NGOs, universities or even necessary for “basic nutrition and marketing companies have taken Own-account workers (34%) normal human life expectancy”, and on a leadership role in convening Unemployed: how to calculate this has long been for change. Multistakeholder Potential 172 million hotly debated. initiatives like the Ethical Trading labour force: Employers Contributing family 140 million (3%) workers (11%) Initiative have also pushed for Living Wage movements emerged Living Wages to be paid in the to resolve these debates and to global supply chains of large Extremely establish authoritative benchmarks brands and retailers, and in certain poor (10%) Wage and salaried for Living Wages based on the sectors, such as garments and workers (52%) Moderately actual cost of living in particular bananas the industry itself has Working-age population: Employed: poor (16%) geographies. They have taken started to explore ways to bring 5.7 billion 3.3 billion various shapes in a multitude of wages up to a Living Wage level. cities, regions and countries – Non-poor some have coalesced into national In this paper, we explore the (74%) movements, others have remained formation and evolution of some of dispersed, either functioning these movements and draw out the Informal Formal In low-and workers workers middle-income Outside of (61%) (39%) entirely independently of each lessons that they have learned.