Webinar: Living wage commitments and experiences from the banana sector

Collaborating for living wages: commitments and experiences from the banana sector

The food and agriculture sector is characterized by informal and highly seasonal employment and in many cases, the pay received for a standard work week is not sufficient for workers to meet their needs for a decent quality of life.

But what can companies do to ensure that workers in the food sector receive a pay that is sufficient to afford a decent standard of living, -in other words, a living wage? One thing is clear: collaboration along the value chain is key.

In this webinar we will explore the latest developments and commitments in the banana sector. In this sector, retailers, NGOs, trade unions and multi-stakeholder organisations have joined forces to achieve living wages for workers.  Most recently, nine retailers in the UK have set a collective goal to close the living wage gap within their banana supply chains by the end of 2027.

Read more about the collaboration here and on similar commitments in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany here .

During this webinar we will dive into the value chain of bananas and discuss which learnings can be replicated in Denmark, and in the food sector more broadly. How was this banana collaboration established and what are the concrete steps taken to bring this commitment to life? How are trade unions and workers are actively involved? What can we learn from the initiative?

Program:

Kl 9.00 Welcome words, by Janine Dortmundt, Ethical Trade Denmark and Simen Høy Dypvik, Ethical Trade Norway

Kl 9.10 Introducing todays’ speakers.

Kl 9:20 Collaborating for living wages: the Roadmap on Living Wages and its tools to support commitments on living wages and experiences from the banana sector with Ronald Sanabria, senior program manager at IDH (Costa Rica) and Marloes Bruin, Sustainability Program Manager at retailer Albert Heijn.

Kl 9:45 Q&A on the role of retailers and joint commitments with Marloes Bruin and Ronald Sanabria

Kl 10:00 Engaging with trade unions in producing countries to achieve living wages, with Alistair Smith, director at Banana Link.

Kl 10:15 Questions and discussion on which learnings on commitments and collaborating for living wage can be replicated?

Kl 10:30 Thank you for today.

The webinar is open for everyone.

Registered participants will receive a link for the webinar one day in advance.