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Detail on Workers Rights

Wages

In its submission, Next set out that,

[a]s a step towards understanding and defining the living wage in different countries and regions we have initiated a series of country studies of the living wage in our key sourcing regions. We are undertaking these studies with our teams focusing on local regions, with reference to external bodies and experts and local research. With this exercise and information, we as a business will be better equipped to look at the broader picture of implementing this requirement.

It explained that part of the purpose would be to compare figures from different sources, including trade unions and labour rights groups, and settle on a compromise value where these figures differed. For example, in Bangladesh it had heard estimates of Tk 3,000 from some sources, and Tk 4,000 from trade unions and NGOs, so it expected the value to be somewhere between the two (see box in the update report for a comparison of figures in Bangladesh).

Next said that this study was due to be complete in October, and that its international Code of Practice team would meet to decide how to move forward based on these figures. It said that it did intend to begin implementing them throughout its supply chain, although change was, “likely to be in small steps to ensure progress is sustainable.”

Freedom of Association

Next is planning to train its suppliers in freedom of association, and build links with local trade unions:

We have scheduled freedom of association training for our global team in the autumn initially to further understand the working mechanisms of mature industrial relations systems and how to nurture these in our sourcing countries. This training will enable our team to begin to tackle this sensitive issue in country providing training to suppliers and building links between local unions and our supply base.

It explained when we met that its plan is three-stage: first, training for its global team, then for regional teams, then finally for suppliers. It further told us that, “the supplier training programme needs to be rolled out first and will lay the foundations for future worker training to follow.”

Monitoring and verification

Next said that it prefers to keep its auditing in-house, and has increased its staff time on the ground to achieve this. Its submission said that,

[a] focus for us continues to be worker interviews: whilst these are a standard part of the audit process we continue to look at different and more effective ways to incorporate into our model. We are doing this through building relationships with NGOs and inviting them to take part in or conduct interviews on our behalf, strengthening local networks and contacts to use for local community interaction.

It went further in our meeting, saying that, “we need to keep exploring new ways, as worker interviews on site in factories are increasingly becoming ineffective.”
It continued,

At the moment we have no strategy to make [collaboration with NGOs and trade unions] a systematic part of the audit process. However, we do recognise that there is a lot we can learn from collaboration with NGOs in the local communities where our factories are located. Its all about building relationships with NGOs and trade unions in those communities.

Our conclusion:

Next’s pragmatic approach to the living wage is unique, and encouraging. It makes us wonder what the other brands are waiting for. It will be important for Next to be transparent about its living wage estimates and how it has arrived at them, and of course the important question will be what it does with the estimates once they are arrived at. In the meantime, we must give Next credit for taking the lead while others wait on the sidelines.

On freedom of association, Next is one of the few retailers to take our point about worker training and the need for collaboration with local unions, and we hope that worker training genuinely will become the fourth stage of its plan in this area. As for monitoring and verification, we are again pleased to note Next’s honesty about worker interviews, and its incorporation of local NGOs into auditing, though we are disappointed that it has no plans to make this systematic yet. Greater collaboration with local trade unions should bring it closer to this.

We look forward to seeing whether Next’s optimistic and ambitious approach continues into 2008, and to see more flesh on the bones of the plans it set out in 2007.

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Last Updated ( Sunday, 16 September 2007 )

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