Monsoon Accessorize

Download Monsoon Accessorize's submission (pdf)

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

An excellent project plan based on one developed for the ETI project group; as members of that group move beyond Bangladesh it will be essential that Monsoon Accessorize collaborates with them.

Position on living wages

Supports the living wage as it has adopted the ETI base code; says it is a “priority area”.

Work so far on living wages

None mentioned

Plans on living wages

Monsoon Accessorize said that it had been lobbying inside the ETI for greater guidance on living wages, and had been pleased that ETI “rose to the challenge”. Because the ETI project is focused on Bangladesh,

"a region where we do not source...we are pleased to report that we have taken on board much of the initial learning from the Bangladeshi work and have embarked our own living wage project. This project is bespoke to Monsoon Accessorize."

The resulting project specification is quite clearly based on an ETI group project plan (in numerous places it still refers to “ETI members”), with its methodology emphasising the following factors, among others:

• Collaboration with local stakeholders

• Negotiating a living wage figure at national or local level as well as calculating it

• “Negotiating a new price” with the supplier that demonstrably allows workers to earn a living wage.

• “Promoting a climate in which industrial relations can develop” by educating workers and management in their rights.

Monsoon Accessorize was keen to emphasise the role that collective bargaining will play within the project:, stating that:

"We will establish relationships with appropriate stakeholders and work towards developing participatory approaches to ensure that workers are able to negotiate living wages at a local level through unfettered collective bargaining."

Elsewhere we note that Monsoon has discovered a larger amount of homeworking in its supply chain than it expected, and the project seems to allow for this by including supply chain mapping and a requirement that the supplier pay the same wages at any subcontracting facilities.

It continued:

"The first stage of our project has now commenced and it is our intention to have piloted the approach with an appropriate supplier(s) within the next year and our intent is to roll out the procedure across all our business thereafter."

Other significant information

Monsoon was “delighted” with our focus on living wages, but took issue with the exclusion of other areas in which it had made progress. Monsoon was the only retailer to submit its entire ETI annual report (all 117 pages!).

Our comments

This is the only project description submitted to our survey that meets all four pillars of a good living wages project. Although it is not collaborating with other retailers, this is understandable when all other retailers are focusing on Bangladesh, and Monsoon Accessorize is collaborating with local stakeholders (although it doesn't mention which ones).

Perhaps most notable is that the pilot phase is envisaged to last just a year, after which it plans to publish a report and move on to roll-out. It will be essential that Monsoon Accessorize shares its learning with members of the ETI group, and with other retailers who are planning to diversify their projects beyond Bangladesh soon.