H&M group brought together the textile and fashion industry under one roof with the 2018 edition of Fair Living Wage Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It aimed at discussing one of the most important issues in the industry- achieving fair living wages in global production markets.
The event that happened on December 11, coincided with the deadline the Swedish retail group had self-imposed in 2013 for the implementation of a living wage strategy in its global supply chain.
The initiative started off in Berlin in November 2013 and now brings together brands, academics, NGOs, trade unions, partners, representatives and investors to discuss and reflect on progress, challenges and the next steps.
“By collaborating with others who are just as committed to this crucial topic as we are, we’re convinced that our industry can take big leaps forward.” – Jenny Fagerlin, Global Social Sustainability Manager, H&M group
In the five-year journey, H&M has reached its two time-bound goals presented in 2013: to empower garment workers by ensuring that they are represented by democratically elected representatives, and to implement improved wage management systems to ensure that suppliers have transparent and fair systems in place and that garment workers are aware of how their wages are set and can be increased.
They have also accomplished several collaborations for the cause. The ACT collaboration includes 20 brands and the global union IndustriALL work that is set to achieve industry-wide collective bargaining agreements supported by responsible purchasing practices. ACT will work towards creation of a level playing field as well as enable big leaps forward when it comes to wages.
Other collaborations that serve for sustainable improvements for workers include the Memorandum of Understanding with the ILO, as well as the Global Framework Agreement with IndustriALL and the Swedish trade union IF Metall.
As per the evaluation done by Ethical Trading Institute, the average wage (excluding overtime) at supplier factories producing for H&M group is between 24% (Cambodia) to 93% (China) higher than the minimum wage level. Also, the wage level (including overtime) at the 500 factories that are improving their wage management systems is between 2% (Turkey) to 11% (Indonesia) higher than the factories not yet enrolled in these programs.
For the future endeavour under the umbrella of this initiative, an H&M representative says that, “Every garment worker should earn a wage that is sufficient to live on. It should satisfy the basic needs of workers and their families as well as provide some discretionary income. It should be earned under legal normal working hours and be revised annually and negotiated regularly.”
