– With strategies, capacity training and responsible purchasing practices
A living wage is a fundamental human right and reduces the risk of other serious violations of labour rights, such as child labour or excessive overtime. Nevertheless, it remains one of the greatest risks in the global textile and clothing industry. By promoting freedom of association, collective bargaining and social dialogue, the framework conditions can be improved. At the same time, companies’ purchasing practices have a major influence on whether suppliers are able to pay higher wages.
With the Partnership Initiatives Learning & Implementation Community (LIC), and Living Wage Lab 2.0 members of the Textile Partnership made significant contributions to this key issue and developed concrete approaches to improve purchasing practices throughout the supply chain and to expand corporate strategies on living wages. Following their successful completion, the results demonstrate how companies, suppliers and workers representatives can work together to find solutions.
The Textile Partnership and its members follow the Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices (CFRPP). The framework defines responsible purchasing practices based on five principles and outlines specific measures that enable effective and collaborative cooperation between purchasing companies and their manufacturers. The aim is to create the structural conditions that enable suppliers to pay living wages.
To analyse existing pay gaps, the Textile Partnership recommends its members to use the list with reference values for living wages, which is based on the ILO “Conclusions on wage policies,including living wages” and Fair Wear Foundation oriented. On this basis, companies can calculate the difference between the wages paid and the benchmarks for living wages, and work with the supplier to develop appropriate measures to gradually close the wage gap.
Partnership Initiative: Learning & Implementation Community (LIC)
The Learning & Implementation Community (LIC) focused on the practical implementation of the CFRPP principles. The aim was to adapt purchasing processes in such a way as to improve working conditions in producing countries in the long term. The community was established by the Partnership for sustainable Textiles in collaboration with several organisations from the sector: the Ethical Trading Initiative, Ethical Trade Norway, Fair Wear and Solidaridad.
Joint learning and Implementation
Over a period of two years, six companies from the Textile Partnership and the Green Button worked together with their suppliers to integrate the principles of the CFRPP into their business processes. The initiative was deliberately designed not as a traditional implementation project with a project budget, but as a platform for learning and exchange.
Within the community:
- the companies developed individual action plans to improve their purchasing practices based on the training offered by LIC,
- implemented initial changes to their processes and
- shared experiences and best practice examples through regular peer-learning sessions.
Partnership Initiatives: Living Wage Lab 2.0
The Living Wage Lab 2.0 built on its predecessor project and aimed to develop concrete strategies for living wages, as well as to identify and implement measures that could help reduce existing wage gaps. The initiative focused, on the one hand, on collaborating with suppliers and promoting social dialogue in three implementing countries, and, on the other hand, on developing company-specific strategies for living wages.
Key Figures for the Initiative:
10 Participating brands
5 Participating suppliers
275 Employees trained (58 of whom are women)
5 Local businesses supported
9 Stakeholder dialogues (buyer-supplier and multi-stakeholder dialogues)
More than 44,700 workers reached through the information campaign
Total budget: €270,520 (of which €93,664 was private funding)
Development of Living-Wage Strategies
In Module 1 of the Lab, the participating companies developed individual strategies on living wages. They discussed their experiences and best practices in regular exchange sessions. This led to the creation of concrete action plans to integrate the issue of living wages more closely into business processes.
Training and Dialogue Forums in Producing Countries
In order to take targeted action, a case study on the wage situation in five factories across the three implementing countries was first carried out in Module 2. Based on the findings, relevant programmes were implemented in four factories in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, and over 230 employees were trained in labour rights, social dialogue and living wages.
In addition, nine buyer-supplier and multi-stakeholder dialogues were held, attended by a total of 142 participants. These dialogues identified key challenges in the producing countries (Bangladesh, India and Pakistan), including legal loopholes in the implementation of minimum wages and unsustainable purchasing practices throughout the supply chain.
The initiative has provided important insights into the structural factors that influence the payment of living wages and how purchasing companies can contribute to a supportive environment for higher wages through their purchasing practices and by strengthening worker representation and rights.
Impulses for the Sector
The results of both initiatives demonstrate how important collaboration across the supply chain is to achieve progress on esponsible purchasing practices and living wages.
Whilst the Learning & Implementation Community promoted the practical implementation of responsible purchasing practices at company level, the Living Wage Lab supported companies in developing concrete strategies, strengthened dialogue between companies, suppliers and worker representatives in producing countries, and delivered targeted training,
In this way, both initiatives provide important impetus for companies within the Partnership and beyond to embed responsible purchasing practices and living wages in the textile industry in the long term.
More Information on the Partnership Initiative:
Learning & Implementation Community (LIC)
More Information on the Partnership Initiative:
Living Wage Lab 2.0