Workshop on fair wage policy by Fair Trade Forum-India held at Indian Social Institute, Delhi My Understanding of the workshop:

In the workshop (By the panelist as well as presentation), it was brought to our notice that:
1) Craft does not fall under any Sector - I realized only later that I did not ask any more questions in this regard.

2) We should build a mechanism where jobs are created- Mr. Suneet Chopra gave an example about an agriculture labourer who fainted after seeing a machine because their job is no more required(Don’t recall the specific machine).

3) Living wage is the ultimate goal - Mr. Kumar Gautam said Living wage is the ultimate goal which takes into account all the expense of an artisan.

4) What percentage of the total cost comprise the “wage” component? ---- Through the presentation, Ananya gave us insight on percentage of the component “wage” in the total cost of the product and its importance.

5) Influencing of the global supply chain- Asia Floor Wage Campaign is focusing on the global supply chain where it not only concentrates at the artisans level but also at the global level.

6) Productivity/Efficiency not only at the Producer levels but also at the upper level (Fair Trade Organization at the global level) – These was an important note because we play both the roles – IM Sweden buys the products that IMEX’s producer organization produces.

7) Buyer’s lead time affecting the productivity and also the wage pattern – There are times when buyers do not give enough lead time. We always have this issue of receiving orders at the right time.

8) To understand that workers are also consumers - There should be people buying the things that is being produced – If we do not pay enough wages to artisans, they will not have the purchasing power.

9) Issue of overtime work --- leading to child labour – At times, artisan also employ their children in order to finish the order on time. I think this is more reference to home based industry.

10) Percentage of Landless has gone up and labour hours has gone down- Mr. Sandeep also gave us number facts about agriculture land which are not in use and also of those which have been taken over by land mafias.

11) A Pact against Children working in hazardous work which India (Govt) did not sign – Mr. Chopra said India is the only Country that did not sign the Pact. I don’t know how many Countries are there.

12) Two ways of calculating wages: Income approach and Cost Approach

13) To create a framework for all the fair trade organizations in India – FTF-I will come up with a framework for fair wage calculation and for that purpose 4 steering members were selected.

14) Fair Wage and Full Employment - There are artisans who receives order for only few months and thus employed during that period. In that case, how should we come up with fair wage?

15) Piece rate and standard daily wage into hourly – I did not get this point straight in my head. I need more clarification.

16) Monetary value of benefits as part of Fair Wage – Some organization provides benefits such as lunch, tea, medical facilities, creches, school fees etc etc. So, there were questions whether we should consider the monetary value of benefits as part of the fair wage.

17) Advocacy to ensure fair wage

18) Proportion of Food Cost and Non Food Cost – These two items helps in the calculation of Living Wage. Food cost includes the calories count of one family (3 adults i.e. 2 adult and 2 children). And Non food cost includes the expense on education, clothing, insurance etc.

Tsering Youdon