Bonsucro joins the Global Living Wage Coalition Action Network

9th December 2021

Bonsucro has joined the Global Living Wage Coalition’s (GLWC) Global Living Wage Action Network. The network is a hub for Living Wage activism, education, and advocacy. It brings together sustainability systems, researchers, and other organisations to implement and push for global Living Wage action

Living wage is central to Bonsucro’s 2021-26 strategic plan. Speaking on the news, our CEO commented:

“Bonsucro is very excited to join the Global Living Wage Coalition Action Network! Bonsucro’s 2021-26 Strategy sets clear commitments toward the promotion of Living Wage. Through the five-year strategic plan, Bonsucro will promote improvements in wages for the most vulnerable people in sugarcane farming and milling through our standard and through and piloting living wages and living incomes for the sector in specific origins. Bonsucro is committed to enhancing its role as a platform for collaboration and for driving collective action and we are looking forward to learning from and working with the Global Living Wage Coalition to drive living wages in the sugarcane sector.”

Bonsucro has joined a new cohort of participating organisations including Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) 

What is Living Wage?

The GLWC (2018) defines a Living Wage as:

“The remuneration received for a standard workweek by a worker in a particular place sufficient to afford a decent standard of living for the worker and her or his family.”

Unlike the Minimum Wage, which is based on balancing political priorities, such as preventing employee poverty with maximising economic growth, the Living Wage is based on the real cost of living. Therefore, the GLWC encourages employers to voluntarily adopt the Living Wage in order to accurately meet their employees’ day-to-day costs of living.

Living Wage in Sugarcane

As part of our commitment to promoting the Living Wage, Bonsucro has been collaborating with the Platform Living Wage Financials and CNV Internationaal – an NGO member that promotes Decent Work in developing countries – to develop a roadmap for Living Wages in sugarcane.

According to the roadmap, adopting a Living Wage is critical to solving problems in the sugarcane industry, such as child labour and chronic kidney disease caused by heat stress. More information on these findings can be found in our Roadmap for Living Wages in the Sugarcane Sector.

We are excited by the opportunities that joining the Action Network will bring to connect with other members, and learn from one another to enact Living Wage change in the sugarcane sector. Following the recommendations detailed in the Roadmap, Bonsucro will form a Working Group in 2022 comprised of members and external experts to drive the work on Living Wage.