The Situation

A living wage isn't a luxury. It's a minimum amount that all working people should be paid to escape poverty. It's a fundamental human right under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 23.

 

A living wage should be earned in a standard work week — no more than 48 hours — and cover a decent standard of living for the worker and their family. A decent standard of living includes food, water, housing, energy, healthcare, clothing, childcare, education and transportation. It also includes saving money for unexpected events like a global pandemic.

 

Brands have the power and the responsibility to ensure the women who make our clothes can lift themselves out of poverty. Oxfam calls on ALL Canadian fashion brands, starting with five leading fashion labels, to commit to the following:

 

• Paying the workers in their supply chain a living wage — without passing on that cost to their customers.
• Publishing a step-by-step strategy outlining how and when this will be achieved.

Paying a living wage to the women who make our clothes is now more critical than ever. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many garment workers lost their jobs. Due to production disruption, fashion companies didn't pay workers for their work, and brands withheld factory payments. The workers had little or no savings and weren't prepared for this unexpected event.

There are various ways to estimate the living wage for a specific area. Still, the two key methods most relevant to the garment supply chain are the Anker Method and the Asia Floor Wage. Both provide a clear pathway for businesses to move forward on living wages. Both calculation methods are credible, with the Asia Floor Wage usually providing slightly higher figures due to differences in detail, approach and calculation.

 

The difference between Asia Floor Wage and Anker is due to the difference in assumptions and methodology:

 

ASIA FLOOR WAGE
It's based on a standard 3,000 calorie intake per day, a family size of two adults, two children, and one wage earner. 

 

ANKER METHOD
It uses country or area-specific data and demographics to determine the calorie requirements, family size and the number of earning members in a family.

 

Both methods have different strengths. The Asia Floor Wage sets a single wage level across Asia and calculates that wage across currencies. This method gives one 'floor,' or minimum, under which no worker should fall. That removes the 'race to the bottom' on wages across the region.

 

The Anker method is more complex. However, it gives more accurate data based on specific regions and industries of work because it's calculated using costs from the area where it's applied.

 

No matter what method companies use, all methods have some fundamentals in common:

 

• A living wage must be paid using a working week of no greater than 48 hours.
• It must be enough to afford decent and nutritious food, decent local housing and living conditions.
• It should also cover healthcare and educational costs, support any dependents.
• It should allow some savings and discretionary spending.

Set by governments, minimum wages are the legal, lowest wages allowed to be paid to workers.

 

A living wage is an amount that's required to cover a decent standard of living for a worker and their family. It's earned in a work week of no more than 48 hours. It includes enough money for decent and nutritious food, decent local housing and living conditions, healthcare, education and supporting dependents — and allows for some savings and discretionary spending.

 

Originally, setting minimum wages in the law meant ensuring that workers were always paid fairly for their work — so wages were enough for living healthily and in decent accommodations.

 

But in reality, many governments have entered a 'race to the bottom' on wages by lowering and keeping low wages to attract foreign companies. In many countries, including the key garment-producing ones in Asia, the result is that legal minimum wages are as low as a quarter of what a fair living wage would be.

All human rights are equally important. No one should have to work in an unsafe workplace or put their health at risk to earn money. Everyone has the right to fair pay for a fair day's work. We believe focusing on a living wage is crucial to protecting and empowering workers. This campaign helps increase workers' bargaining power and establish more long-term relationships in apparel supply chains, which would likely lead to improved workplace safety and health.

The Global Living Wage Coalition calculated that the living wage in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, should be around C$255 per month. Using the Asia Floor Wage calculation, it's about C$583. However, the country's current minimum monthly wage is C$124. As a result of earning such wages, the women who make our clothes live in slums. They run out of food for themselves and their families. These low wages push workers and families into debt. Young women sleep on concrete floors because a mattress is an out-of-reach luxury. All this while working six days a week, up to 12 hours a day. This situation needs to change.

Oxfam thinks we should shoot higher and fight for human rights.

 

It's practically impossible for the women who make our clothes to live decently on what they're making. Poverty forces them to live in slums, away from their families, working 12 hours a day while falling into spiralling debt.

 

No one has the right to take advantage of women in poverty and violate their fundamental human rights in the name of profit.

 

Globally, the garment sector is among the largest employers of women workers. The industry holds great power and potential to impact the lives of millions of women in low-income countries and, by extension, their families and communities.