A CASHLESS SUPPLY CHAIN: EXPLORING THE SHIFT TO DIGITAL WAGE PAYMENTS IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY
A side session at the 2023 RightsCon Summit in Costa Rica hosted by WikiRate, CleanClothesCampaign and WageIndicator on Digital Wage Payments as a side session . Our open dialogue will focus on exploring the shift to digital wage payments in the fashion industry.
THURSDAY 8 JUNE 2023 - 4:45 - 5.45am Costa Rica time | 12.45 - 13.45pm CEST || Online
Registration for the event can be done by signing in for RightsCon. For those not attending the RightsCon Summit, the session will be recorded and can be viewed later on via WageIndicator, WikiRate or CleanClothesCampaign platforms.
About this event
This session will explore the risks and opportunities of digital wage payments for workers in fashion supply chains. The COVID-19 pandemic and the evolution of digital banking has transformed the way wages are paid in supply chains around the world. Initiatives like the UN-backed ‘Better Than Cash Alliance’ are promoting this shift and major brands are actively rolling out digital wage payments.
This means that for the first time data on actual wages paid should be available at large scale. Through the Fashion Checker project civil society organisations have already collected small-scale facility wage data which can be compared to living wage benchmarks. This has revealed a collective lack of action from brands who have committed to paying their workers a living wage. However, gathering aggregate worker wage data is messy and costly.
Could digital payments scale up these efforts? Does the shift present risks to workers? Can wage data be standardised across contexts? Can they serve as evidence-based indicators of wage trends, gender pay gaps and overtime? These questions will be explored by the panellists and audience in a collaborative conversation.
The panel will comprise diverse perspectives from the field of worker-led advocacy, social dialogue and data & technology and include a trade union representative who will present the perspective of supply chain workers in Indonesia. We want to examine if, and how, responsible disclosure of aggregate actual wages can be achieved whilst respecting worker privacy and whether this data could improve wages in global fashion supply chains.
Hosted by WikiRate, Clean Clothes Campaign and WageIndicator
The session is hosted by WikiRate, Clean Clothes Campaign and WageIndicator Foundation.
Moderator: Paul Roeland, Transparency Coordinator at Clean Clothes Campaign
- Martua Raja Siregar, Treasurer at FSB Garteks
- Tiffany Rogers, Director of Fair Compensation and Member Engagement at Fair Labor Association
- Fiona Dragstra, Director at WageIndicator Foundation