Mair Simon, Druckman Angela, Jackson Tim
Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
Int J Life Cycle Assess. 2018;23(9):1862-1873. doi: 10.1007/s11367-017-1390-z. Epub 2017 Aug 30.
This paper explores the issue of fairness in global supply chains. Taking the Western European clothing supply chain as a case study, we demonstrate how applying a normative indicator in Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) can contribute academic and practical insights into debates on fairness. To do so, we develop a new indicator that addresses some of the limitations of the living wage for SLCA.
We extend the standard form of living wage available for developing countries to include income tax and social security contributions. We call this extension 'living labour compensation'. Using publically available data, we estimate net living wages, gross living wages, and living labour compensation rates for Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) in 2005. We then integrate living labour compensation rates into an input-output framework, which we use to compare living labour compensation and actual labour compensation in the BRIC countries in the Western European clothing supply chain in 2005.
We find that in 2005, actual labour compensation in the Western European clothing supply chain was around half of the labour compensation level, with the greatest difference being in the Agricultural sector. Therefore, we argue that BRIC pay in the Western European clothing supply chain was unfair. Furthermore, our living labour compensation estimates for BRIC in 2005 are ~ 35% higher than standard living wage estimates. Indeed, adding income taxes and employee social security contributions alone increases the living wage by ~ 10%. Consequently, we argue there is a risk that investigations based on living wages are not using a representative measure of fairness from the employee's perspective and are substantially underestimating the cost of living wages from an employer's perspective. Finally, we discuss implications for retailers and living wage advocacy groups.
Living labour compensation extends the living wage, maintaining its strengths and addressing key weaknesses. It can be estimated for multiple countries from publically available data and can be applied in an input-output framework. Therefore, it is able to provide a normative assessment of fairness in complex global supply chains. Applying it to the Western European clothing supply chain, we were able to show that pay for workers in Brazil, Russia, India, and China is unfair, and draw substantive conclusions for practice.
本文探讨全球供应链中的公平问题。以西欧服装供应链为例，我们展示了在社会生命周期评估（SLCA）中应用规范性指标如何能为公平性辩论提供学术和实践见解。为此，我们开发了一个新指标，以解决SLCA中生活工资的一些局限性。
我们扩展了发展中国家可用的标准生活工资形式，将所得税和社会保障缴款纳入其中。我们将这种扩展称为“生活劳动报酬”。利用公开数据，我们估算了2005年巴西、俄罗斯、印度和中国（金砖四国）的净生活工资、毛生活工资和生活劳动报酬率。然后，我们将生活劳动报酬率纳入投入产出框架，用于比较2005年西欧服装供应链中金砖四国的生活劳动报酬和实际劳动报酬。
我们发现，2005年，西欧服装供应链中的实际劳动报酬约为劳动报酬水平的一半，最大差异出现在农业部门。因此，我们认为金砖四国在西欧服装供应链中的薪酬不公平。此外，我们对2005年金砖四国的生活劳动报酬估计比标准生活工资估计高出约35%。事实上，仅加上所得税和员工社会保障缴款，生活工资就会提高约10%。因此，我们认为，基于生活工资的调查可能存在风险，即从员工角度来看，没有采用具有代表性的公平衡量标准，而从雇主角度来看，又大幅低估了生活工资成本。最后，我们讨论了对零售商和生活工资倡导团体的影响。
生活劳动报酬扩展了生活工资，保留了其优点并解决了关键弱点。它可以根据公开数据对多个国家进行估算，并可应用于投入产出框架。因此，它能够对复杂的全球供应链中的公平性进行规范性评估。将其应用于西欧服装供应链，我们能够证明巴西、俄罗斯、印度和中国工人的薪酬不公平，并得出具有实际意义的结论。
