ACT and living wages

ACT delivers precisely on the ILO recommendations on wage policies, ensuring that living wages are not treated as a one-size-fits-all solution but reflect local and regional differences within countries. 

In line with the ILO, ACT believes that social partners at the national level—employers and trade unions—should drive the process of identifying actions and measures that contribute to real wage growth.

The ILO underscores that wages should be set and adjusted through collective bargaining and/or statutory minimum wage fixing, with national social partners in the lead. Strengthening national wage-setting institutions, such as minimum wage commissions and collective bargaining mechanisms, is essential to achieving sustainable and predictable real wage growth.

ACT supports employers and trade unions in negotiating tailor-made solutions, backed by the purchasing practices of global brands. Since wages are intrinsically linked to competitiveness and purchasing prices and a pervasive issue of the industry, a holistic approach is needed to create a win-win solution for all supply chain actors—manufacturers, brands, and fundamentally, workers.

As the International Labour Organisation (ILO) pointed out, ‘living wage benchmarks’ or ‘estimates’, where they exist, should serve to inform – not replace – evidence-based social dialogue, including collective bargaining, and facilitate the setting of wages considered adequate by the parties involved. 

“Collective bargaining and/or statutory minimum wage fixing through tripartite social dialogue should be the proper modality for setting and adjusting wages” (ILO Meeting of Experts on Wage Policies)

ACT offers a long-term solution for fostering sustainable, predictable, and consistent wage growth within the global supply chain.