Interactive Session: Ensuring Workers Make a Decent Living from Tea and Can Provide for their Families
Chaired by: Sarah Roberts (Ethical Tea Partnership)
Speakers: Rachel Wilshaw (Oxfam); Peter Stedman (Tesco); Sebastian Hobhouse (Plantation Global International); Richard Anstead (Fairtrade Foundation); and Andrew Parker (Imani Development)
Sarah opened the session by explaining that the reason ETP co-ordinated the first wages and benefits report on tea was because, while there were a lot of concerns about low wages in the tea sector, there was not a good understanding of how wages are set, what is included in the wages and benefit package, and why cash wages in some countries are low. The history and structure of the plantation sector has led to estates being required to provide a range of in-kind benefit such as housing and medical facilities, which in most other sectors nowadays are the responsibility of individuals or governments. However, these remain very important in some tea regions. As tea wages are set nationally or regionally, not by individual companies, this affects how changes can be made.
Since the ETP-Oxfam consortium ‘Understanding Wage Issues in the Tea Industry’ report was released, benchmarks have been developed for a number of countries, using a methodology developed by wage expert Richard Anker, which is supported by key standard-setting and certification organisations. The first benchmarks developed were for bananas in the Dominican Republic and wine grapes in South Africa. ETP and Oxfam, worked with Fairtrade International, Rainforest Alliance, and Utz Certified, to facilitate the development of a living wage benchmark for tea in Malawi.
These benchmarks are now being incorporated into future auditing approaches by the certification organisations. Fairtrade’s updated standard for hired labour requires employers to negotiate with workers’ representatives on wages and make annual increases on real wages towards the living wage. It also opens the possibility for up to 20% of the Fairtrade Premium to be used towards wages. Rainforest Alliance is still going through its own standard revision process with the new requirements on living wage coming into force in July 2015. To prepare producers for the new requirements, additional questions on living wage will be included in the Rainforest Alliance auditing process from July 2014.
While there are always debatable points about any living wage methodology, the Anker approach has a lot of credibility and support, so the focus now is not on calculating the current value of wages and benefits packages, or what a living wage is, but how we can improve the remuneration package for those living close to poverty lines, without destabilising the industry, so that all those involved in producing tea can lead dignified lives.