Date and Time

Thursday 7th November
16:30 - 17:30 CET

Event Details

WageMap has made immense strides in 2024 and are now mid-way through the Living Wage Reference Standard-setting process. We are eager to build off this momentum by bringing together companies that are invested in driving the achievement of living wages for workers globally. Together with our Launch Partners – including Hershey and Mondelez – we are starting the mission towards harmonization on Living Wage and creating a public dataset of globally comparable, locally specific, living wage estimate data. During this session, we will update you on the progress to date, plans for 2025, and what it means for you.

Agenda:

1. Introduction to WageMap: our mission
2. Looking back to 2024: Living Wage Reference Standard-setting process
3. Activities for 2025: Consultations, Knowledge Hub, and building the public dataset
4. Call to action: Support still needed and how you can contribute
5. Q&A

Speakers:

• Michelle Murray, CEO and Founder, Living Wage for US – Leads Living Wage Reference Standard process
• Joost Backer, Sr Consultant, NewForesight – Project Management Office WageMap

Location: Webinar - Register here

Contact:
Joost Backer (PMO)
joost.backer@newforesight.com

WageMap invites you to participate in the public consultation for the Living Wage Reference Standard.

Consultation Audience

Date	Audience	Registration Link	Time	Region
17.10.24	Corporate	Register here	14:00 BST / 09:00 EDT	Europe, Latin America & Caribbean, North America
22.10.24	Workers, Civil Society & Government	Register here	14:00 BST / 09:00 EDT	Europe, Latin America & Caribbean, North America
31.10.24	Corporate	Register here	07:00 GMT / 18:00 AET	East Asia & Pacific, Europe & Central Asia, Middle East & North Africa, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa
13.11.24	Corporate	Register here	19:00 GMT / 14:00 EST	Latin America & Caribbean, North America
20.11.24	Workers, Civil Society & Government	Register here	19:00 GMT / 14:00 EST	Latin America & Caribbean, North America
26.11.24	Workers, Civil Society & Government	Register here	07:00 GMT / 18:00 AET	East Asia & Pacific, Europe & Central Asia, Middle East & North Africa, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa

View this page on a computer screen or download the pdf version for a full view of this table.

Agenda

• 0m: Welcome and introductions, 15m
• 15m: Components of the Living Wage Reference Standard and overarching frameworks, 5m
• 20m: How did we get here? Informing the Standard, finding consensus, and WageMap comparative analysis process, 10m
• 30m: BREAK, 5m
• 35m: Areas of consensus, 1hr:
  • Geographic specificity, 10m
  • Family size and number of workers per family, 10m
  • Transport, 10m
  • Healthcare, 10m
  • Housing, 10m
  • Unexpected events, 10m
• 1hr 35m: BREAK, 5m
• 1hr 40m: Areas of non-consensus - more research needed, 1hr:
  • Care: childcare, eldercare, retirement, 15m
  • Food, 15m
  • Mandatory deductions from pay, 15m
  • Social participation and 'other costs', 15m
• 2hrs 40m: Next steps and event close, 10m
• 2hrs 50m: END

You are invited to join the entire session, or any part of it.

About WageMap

WageMap is a consortium of living wage data and service providers that have come together to drive alignment across living wage methodologies and frameworks. The founding members are BSR, Loughborough University, Living Wage For US, Inc., Living Wage Foundation, NewForesight, and WageIndicator Foundation. Together we aim to foster harmonization in the living wage space by creating a public dataset of globally comparable, locally specific living wage estimates. To get there, we are first developing a universally accepted and stakeholder consulted Living Wage Reference Standard with reference to the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems.

Recognising the important work carried out previously in this area, WageMap does not seek to develop a new methodology, or to establish itself as the overarching authority on best practice for calculation of living wage estimates. Rather, it is creating a Standard that represents the views of the wider movement and is inclusive of all data providers and methodology owners.

What is the Living Wage Reference Standard?

The purpose of the Living Wage Reference Standard is to serve as a ‘North Star’, compelling organisations, including WageMap consortium members and other living wage data providers and implementation organisations, to continually strive for improvement in their living wage calculation methodologies. The overarching goal will be to create external confidence in living wage estimates by having a stakeholder-consulted standard, agreed upon by the consortium members, that allows users to understand international comparability and local specificity so that they can confidently implement living wages consistently around the world.

To learn more about the Living Wage Reference Standard, please see the slides and recording from our intro webinar held in August. Further information can be found in our WageMap Strategy and Standard Development and Revision Procedure.

The scope of the standard includes:

• Categories of costs contained within and practices for calculating living wage estimates
• Effective methods of collecting and verifying reliable cost-of-living data
• Harmonisation of a consistent technical utilisation of definitions and data architecture

Public Consultation Period

WageMap is committed to an inclusive and transparent review process and is seeking input from all stakeholders impacted by the implementation of the Living Wage Reference Standard. There will be two rounds of public consultation, the first running from 17th October to 20th November 2024 and the second from March-April 2025. The consultations will be held across a range of time zones to ensure WageMap gathers responses from a wide range of locations.

The consultations will also be split into two stakeholder groups: Corporate and Worker/Civil Society/Government, to ensure a balanced and diverse group of stakeholders. There is also the opportunity to provide online feedback outside of the consultation webinars - more information to follow. All comments received during each consultation period will be made publicly available (or summarised accurately), and WageMap will explain how each material issue raised was considered during refinement of the Standard.

Who Should Participate?

• Workers, Civil Society & Government: Unions and worker representative organisations, living wage projects and programmes, national CSOs, I/NGOs, certification bodies, labour rights experts, advocacy and research stakeholders, policymakers, intergovernmental agencies etc.
• Corporate: Multinationals, small & medium size businesses, buyers, suppliers, investors, business associations, trade intermediaries etc.

Please register for a webinar session here.

If you have any questions, please contact Shaheen Hashmat, shaheen.hashmat@livingwage.org.uk about the civil society consultations and Emma Giloth, egiloth@bsr.org about the corporate consultations.

On August 22nd 2024, the webinar “Towards a Living Wage Reference Standard” took place. We would like to send a special thanks to all of our wonderful speakers who joined the session to share their work and insights:

• Elva Lopez Mourelo, International Labour Organisation
• Megan Galvin, UN Global Compact
• Anne Coleman, Ontario Living Wage Network
• Eyüp Özer, Turkish United Metalworkers Union, Birleşik Metal İş
• Fiona Dragstra, WageIndicator Foundation, part of the WageMap consortium
• Michelle Murray, Living Wage for US, part of the WageMap consortium
• Shaheen Hashmat, Living Wage Foundation, part of the WageMap consortium

Recording and links:

• Please find the recording from the session and the slides in Resources.
• To keep up to date with the latest on WageMap, please see our LinkedIn.
• Links shared during the webinar by UNGC:
• UNGC Forward Faster
• List of Companies that have committed to Forward Faster Targets
• Leaders Summit
• Living Wage Analysis Tool
• Decent Work Toolkit for Sustainable Procurement
• Improving Wages to Advance Decent Work microsite
• Forward Faster video can be found here

Follow up from the Q&A session:

We will be taking the comments and questions from the Q&A discussion away to help us to refine the plans for the upcoming stakeholder consultations across October and November (more information to follow on these).

The questions that we weren't able to answer during the session will be answered on in Resources soon.

On August 22nd 2024, the webinar “Towards a Living Wage Reference Standard” will take place, hosted by WageMap and with speakers from UN Global Compact and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

About this event:

Following its February meeting of experts on wage policies, the International Labour Organization (ILO) now has a mandate to engage with living wage initiatives to promote alignment with ILO principles. They will also promote outcomes from the meeting in the multilateral system and through partnerships with other UN bodies, including the UN Global Compact.

WageMap intends to closely align its work with ILO guidance and will also share more information about how this is reflected in the upcoming WageMap consultation process, due to begin in September 2024. There will also be the opportunity to hear from the ILO and UN Global Compact representatives on next steps of their work.

Agenda:

1. Next steps from UNGC and the ILO
2. Why a Living Wage Reference Standard?
3. WageMap consultation process
4. Scope of the Living Wage Reference Standard
5. Q&A discussion

This event is for civil society, workers' organisations, NGOs, data providers, and living wage focused projects and programmes. To help ensure that we are reaching all relevant organisations, please share this invitation with your own network as well.

We will communicate with corporate organisations about the consultation process separately.

We will follow up with a more detailed briefing ahead of the session.

Event details:

Register: Click this link.

When: Thursday 22nd August, 14:00-16:00 BST / 15:00-17:00 CEST / 09:00-11:00 EDT The webinar will be recorded and shared

Speakers:

• Anne Coleman, Director of Programs and Services, Ontario Living Wage Network
• Eyüp Özer, Turkish United Metalworkers Union (Birleşik Metal İş)
• Megan Galvin, Labour Rights & Decent Work, UN Global Compact
• Elva López Mourelo, Project Manager on Setting Adequate Wages, ILO
• Michelle Murray, CEO and Founder, Living Wage for US – Leads Living Wage Reference Standard process
• Shaheen Hashmat, Head of Global Living Wage, Living Wage Foundation – Leads WageMap Community engagement
• Fiona Dragstra, Director, WageIndicator Foundation

If you wish to attend, please register or forward it to a colleague. We look forward to having you there.

Dear Brands and Organizations,

Are you ready to impact the Living Wage landscape? WageMap extends an invitation for you to join us as a launch partner, positioning yourself at the forefront of transforming our approach to attaining living wages for workers globally.

By partnering with WageMap, you'll gain access to a myriad of benefits, including:

💡𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝: Help develop a reference standard which will assess, align and improve existing living wage benchmarking methodologies.

🌟 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Position your organization as a leader in promoting fairness and transparency in the workplace.

🌏 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚. Access the ‘wage map’: a database of the most representative living wage data per geography.

🎓 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐛: Elevate your understanding with workshops, relevant references, and links to essential resources on closing the living wage gap.

WageMap is a coalition among six leading organizations in the living wage space – WageIndicator, Living Wage For US, Living Wage Foundation UK, BSR, NewForesight, and Loughborough University. Our mission is to provide structure and clarity in the debates around Living Wage and help companies facilitate the implementation of their Living Wage commitments across their supply chains.

Concretely, WageMap aims to: 1. Establish a Living Wage Reference Standard with reference to the ISEAL Code of Good Practice. 2. Provide access to Globally Comparable, Locally Specific Benchmarks. 3. trengthen implementation support to guide the private sector in their Living Wage journey. 4. Build and expand the global movement around Living Wage.

Don't miss this opportunity to be part of a transformative initiative. Join us as a launch partner and together, let's pave the way for a brighter, more equitable future!

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐉𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫, 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 (joost.backer@newforesight.com) 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐖𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐌𝐚𝐩.

On Wednesday April 24th at 4:00 - 5:00 PM CEST we will host our very first WageMap Webinar:

𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐚𝐠𝐞 –𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐖𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐌𝐚𝐩, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

This event is for all practitioners supporting the achievement of living wages for workers globally. hashtag#WageMap has kicked off the Living Wage Reference Standard-setting process. Join us on the mission towards a single database of globally comparable, contextually specific living wage benchmark data!

𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚:
1️⃣ Introduction to WageMap: plan for 2024.
2️⃣ Consultations on the Living Wage Reference Standard: How can you
contribute?
3️⃣ Launch Partner Spotlight: The Hershey Company.
4️⃣ Call to action: What does Launch Partnership mean for you.
5️⃣ Q&A

Sign up via the following link: https://share.hsforms.com/1Wgz6UV8-QKa1zVfsjCsiRg1z1n9

Hope to see you there!

This week, WageMap attends the 4th Global Conference of the World Banana Forum, including a side event on livingwage at the FAO in Rome.

Over 600,000 workers operate in the banana industry, growing, plucking and packing over 120 million MT per year. Most workers earn well below a Living Wage and face tough working conditions.

Data-driven action is needed. WageMap contributes by creating a single database of globally comparable, locally specific living wage benchmarks based on a shared living wage reference standard that acknowledges existing methodologies.

We kick-off creating this standard this month, with reference to the ISEAL Code of Good Practice. ‘We’ means the consortium partners BSR, Living Wage Foundation, Loughborough University, NewForesight, Living Wage For US Inc, and WageIndicator Foundation. It also includes our corporate Launch Partners and Members, which will become known soon.

NB: Deadline to become a Launch Partner is April 5th. Interested in learning more? Contact us via LinkedIn or send an email to PMO Joost Backer, joost.backer@newforesight.com.

With Living Wage becoming central to discussions around decent work and the sustainable development goals, we're excited to see that one of our founding members, the WageIndicator Foundation is making their Living Wage estimates publicly available as of today!

This is a big step in the pursuit of labour market transparency, fair compensations, and our shared journey to a better future.

You can read their publication via the following link: https://wageindicator.org/salary/living-wage/workers-trade-unions