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Living wage
Stakeholder consultation open from September 1 to October 30
We have launched a stakeholder consultation on three key areas including Living Wage indicators.
To provide feedback
To learn more and participate, read all relevant documents:
- Living Wage – Draft Indicators (ES, FR, VI)
- Living Wage – Slides with consultation questions (ES, FR, VI)
- Living Wage – Benchmarks
- FAQ Living Wage
- Consultation questions (ES, FR, VI)
Participate in the survey here: Living Wage.
You can also provide your input by attending one of our live feedback workshops:
- Living Wage: Public Consultation Workshops
Purpose
The objective of ASC’s living wage strategy is that certified farms and feed mills pay their workers a living wage.
A living wage is defined by the Global Living Wage Coalition as “the remuneration received for a standard workweek by a worker in a particular place sufficient to afford a decent standard of living for the worker and her or his family. Elements of a decent standard of living include food, water, housing, education, health care, transportation, clothing, and other essential needs including provision for unexpected event.”
ASC will achieve this through requirements on wage measurement, wage benchmarking and supporting producers to develop a wage improvement plan. ASC will initially focus on measurement and improvement, recognising that the journey to paying a living wage is long and involved and will engage with key stakeholders in industry, civil society, and government to build support for an enabling environment that supports a broader uptake of living wage.
Achieving a living wage across ASC-certified facilities in all producer countries is a long-term goal. Each of the 50+ countries where ASC certified farms are located, differs in terms of minimum wage requirements and the gap between prevailing and living wages. At the same time, each species has different price and retail structures that should be considered, and producers are not expected to absorb increased labour costs suddenly and without support.
As data is collected and ASC better understands the wage gaps by country and species, ASC will continue to research appropriate strategies and tools to assist producers in closing gaps, which may include partnerships with retailers and other supply chain partners.
Activities
In November 2019, the ASC Technical Advisory Group approved work on living wage and ASC subsequently joined the Global Living Wage Coalition (GLWC) to collaborate with other certification schemes on this work, adopting their definition of living wage and using the Anker Research Institute living wage benchmarks.
In December 2022, ASC began a pilot project together with IDH – using the Salary Matrix, an online wage measurement tool developed by IDH – to analyse and verify living wage gaps on aquaculture farms in three target countries. The goals of this pilot are to better understand wage gaps and wage drivers in aquaculture, understand the cost and complexity of this tool, and collect feedback from farms and auditors on ASC’s draft living wage requirements. This pilot is scheduled for completion by November 2023.
In January 2023, ASC established a Technical Working Group on Living Wage, which provides input into draft living wage indicators and a wage measurement methodology for the Farm Standard.
Public consultation
There will be several opportunities to provide opinions and perspectives on living wage. The first opportunity will be to comment on draft living wage indicators and methodology in September 2023 and more information on this will soon be made available here.
Contact person: Jean Johnson
Funder
Timeline
