Monsoon Accessorize

Responded to survey: yes

MSI involvement: yes, Ethical Trading Initiative [what's this?]

Grade 3.5: Can offer concrete examples of steps to develop and implement a living wage methodology in the supplier base, with clear plans to move beyond pilot projects. [what's this?]

Summary

Monsoon’s impressive project plan outlined last year is taking effect; including a wage study/productivity project in India, a homeworking study focusing on purchasing practices, and a project to improve bargaining rights for workers in China.

Position on living wages

Supports the living wage and has adopted the ETI base code; says it is a ‘priority area.’

Position on freedom of association

‘We have developed a strategy (to run in parallel with our auditing system) which is based on a negotiated approach. Essentially, we are seeking to empower workers by taking cognisance of participatory approaches to affect free and unfettered collective bargaining.’ This is being implemented through work with suppliers with NGO and trade union support.

Work so far on living wages

Monsoon Accessorize submitted a project specification last year with a methodology emphasizing the following factors among others: collaboration with local stakeholders; calculation and negotiation of a living wage figure at national or local level; negotiation of new prices with suppliers that allow workers to earn a living wage and, promoting a climate in which industrial relations can develop by educating
both workers and management in their rights. This year we were keen to hear what progress had been made in implementing the project.

The project plan has now been put into place initially in two countries. The first, a project run independently by Monsoon in India, the second an ETI collaborative project in China. In regard to the India project Monsoon outlined their progress over
the last year:

‘We have carried out an independent basket survey (carried out by ASK, an NGO) to ascertain the cost of living in regions where workers live. The latter findings are significant and have revealed a complex problem in that the situation cannot be resolved by direct intervention on wages alone...’

Monsoon were ‘pleased to note that wages and benefits had risen significantly’ for Indian home workers in Bareilly, where Monsoon is working as part of an ETI Homeworker project. However, the meeting notes that accompanied the submission also acknowledged that home workers’ wages are still failing to meet the legal minimum.

The China project is covered by confidentiality clauses meaning limited details could be shared, but Monsoon was able to tell us that:

“[The project’s] aim is to improve bargaining rights of employees in their quest to obtain better wages... The learning from this and the improved industrial relations that ensue, will be used to bench mark other supplier who will be challenged to follow this lead.”

Plans on living wages

Other significant information

Though Monsoon is one of the few retailers to acknowledge its part in ‘negotiating a fair price so that a living wage can be paid,’ it is however concerned to ensure that ‘all actors involved are adding value to the process’ and states that ‘increased costs provision will primarily have to be driven by productivity improvements.’ Therefore, the current focus is on determining garment costings and supply chain transparency.

Our comments

Monsoon’s project shows a clear engagement with the difficult issues around delivering a living wage to workers and covers all the four areas of a good living wage project. It is great to see worker involvement built into processes and a strategy being developed to support freedom of association.

It seems that the implementation of the project is moving somewhat slowly - the only concrete result appears to be the completion of its study into living wage calculations. We are pleased to see that the living wage amounts which its research calculates
come in at a similar level to the Asia Floor Wage calculations - Rs 6882 for a worker living alone and Rs 9701 for a worker living with a family. This is a variation of between Rs 2687 to Rs 5984 from the national minimum. This gap will be difficult to fill with productivity improvements alone so it will be important for Monsoon to also examine pricing and costings, which it indicates it is planning to do. We would urge them to do this alongside productivity projects rather than waiting until after their completion.

It was good to read a number of references in support of freedom of association and bargaining rights and it will be interesting to hear ongoing reports in regard to Monsoon’s support of bargaining rights in China.

Monsoon’s work in ensuring wages are raised for home workers is also extremely welcome and we hope it will continue. The fact that home workers in Bareilly have seen an increase in wages is positive although Monsoon should learn the lesson of how quickly such increases can be wiped by inflation if progress is not timely. It is also important to note that even with such improvements most home workers in the project are still not earning the minimum wage, let alone the living wage. As such, it would be difficult to classify this project so far as a success.