Latest news with #JanetMensink
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How the Garment Supply Chain's Gender Pay Gap Undermines Social Compliance
A few steps forward but still a long way to go. That's the gist of the Social & Labor Convergence Program's latest impact report, which delved into data gathered by the multi-stakeholder initiative's harmonized audit framework—including, for the first time, information pertaining to gender dynamics—as it enters its sixth year of adoption by the apparel, footwear and textiles supply chain. Broadly speaking, the 10,200 SLCP assessments conducted in more than 50 countries in 2024—10 percent more than in 2023—found fewer violations of national and international labor laws. By replacing multiple, often redundant, audits, the Converged Assessment Framework also unlocked a potential $39 million for reinvesting in—ideally—improving labor conditions for roughly 7.3 million workers, a 39 percent uptick from the year before. There remained glaring paint points such as excessive overtime and shortfalls in wages and benefits, but overall, CEO Janet Mensink views the results as a validation of the Cascale spinoff's 'theory of change.' More from Sourcing Journal Can Fashion's 'Bridges' Overcome Its 'Barriers'? Families of 'Kidnapped' L.A. Garment Workers Arrested in ICE Raids Plead for Justice National Guard Arrives in Los Angeles Following Protests Over Immigration Raids 'One of our principles and theories is that facility ownership of their data will drive accountability and change because they also take responsibility for the outcomes,' she said. 'So there's that whole process that starts with self-assessment and then continues with verification, but they are the ones that get to decide whether they share it with brands or any other stakeholders.' Mensink had just stepped off the main stage at the Global Fashion Summit: Copenhagen Edition, where she had been speaking on a panel about the gender pay gap. The session's initial hook was PricewaterhouseCoopers and Global Fashion Agenda's report about wage inequities in Italy's fashion manufacturing value chain, where women are overrepresented in lower-paying positions on the production line and underrepresented in the higher executive echelons. The same is true of countries such as Bangladesh, China, India, Turkey, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, where SLCP's assessments are most embraced, Mensink said. Although women comprise 59 percent of the workforce in SLCP facilities, men account for 67 percent of the supervisory or managerial positions, the report found. As in Italy, the women toil in so-called 'less-skilled' jobs that, if one would put a positive spin on things, means plenty of untapped opportunities to leverage the 'diversity dividend' of investing in inclusive leadership. On the flip side, such disparate power dynamics have been linked to increased incidences of gender-based violence and harassment that lead to psychological, physical and sexual abuse. Despite women representing 60 percent of workers, 45 percent of SLCP facilities paid men more than women in the same or similar positions in 2024. While the gap can vary wildly, ranging from a fraction of a percentage to more than 10 percent, the fact that it exists signals what the report said is a 'troubling imbalance in opportunity, recognition and reward' and undermines the fundamental concept of equal pay for equal work. Despite the overall growth in SLCP users—2024 alone saw a 10 percent bump—there has been 'no meaningful increase' in the representation of women in supervisory roles. Only 25 percent of SLCP facilities are managed or owned by women. And while 61 percent of them offered promotions to men in 2024, just 39 percent did the same for their female counterparts. Men, the report pointed out, are still largely favored for advancement at the individual facility level. Overtime is 'very much' connected with the pay gap, Mensink said, since workers who earn less than what they can survive on will seek to rack up hours to make up for the deficiency. A root cause of this is unfair purchasing practices. 'If you want to address over time, you cannot just you can't just ask your supplier, hey, remediate this,' she said. 'This is a collective effort that is a supply chain issue, not a sustainability issue in itself. There isn't a training to fix overtime.' At the same time, she added, the data shows that factories led by women have better control over their working hours, which means setting them up for success can have larger positive implications. This means providing things like childcare assistance (which is mandatory in Bangladesh and India), menstrual products and maternity leave, which are all valuable data points for SLCP and important subjects of dialogue between buyers and suppliers. That facilities should have autonomy over their own data, however, is something of a no-brainer for Mensink. She said she doesn't believe in a 'top-down approach' where buyers call all the shots because 'that's actually one of the underlying issues why there are non-compliances in the first place.' Mensink said that non-compliance isn't easy to fix in facilities because they're so systemic and often come with nested dependencies. It isn't for nothing, after all, that 92 percent of SLCP assessments in 2024 found at least one occurrence of non-compliance, a 1 percent decrease from 2023. The average number of legal non-compliances per assessment? 10.3, a 3 percent increase from the year before. At the same time, the report found, repeat users of the Converged Assessment Framework reported 1.9 fewer incidents of non-compliance compared with first-time users. In 2024, the average frequency of non-compliant behavior for repeat users of the assessment over four years was 2.4 times lower than repeat users over two years. 'But there's still so much work to do,' Mensink said. 'We're finding cases also on harassment, discrimination, forced labor, issues with migrant labor, but these are way more challenging in an assessment context. There's also a lot that we need to do in collaboration with other organizations that are better equipped to get the true worker voice. I mean, freedom of association is one of the key things to address, but how do you do that? Plus, there are limitations in an annual on-site inspection. It's a snapshot. And you need a skilled verifier to identify more salient issues, so we're constantly updating and building the capacity of our verifiers.' SLCP is often flooded with requests for new data points. Mensink thinks there needs to be a balance, however, between making the Converged Assessment Framework fit for purpose and plunging into ever-more granular levels of information that could make assessments unwieldy or unsuitable for drawing out long-term trends. So far, beyond the addition of wage and gender data, last year, the organization has kept to incremental annual improvements. A climate element could be the next big one. 'We're also looking at, probably in the future, ways to work with other organizations on grievance mechanisms, hotlines, etc., because the idea of finding everything in one assessment as good as it is is probably a bit ambitious,' she said. 'It's about finding a middle ground through modularity. But we will never be a static system.'
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Facilities using SLCP framework see drop in labour law violations
The SLCP completed over 10,000 assessments in 2024, affecting approximately 7.3 million workers globally. According to the report, facilities implementing the SLCP's Converged Assessment Framework (CAF) consecutively reported a dip in national and international labour standards' violations. The CAF's design allows facilities to distribute their assessment data to various stakeholders, eliminating the need for multiple audits. This efficiency resulted in a potential savings of $39m in 2024, marking a 39% increase from the previous year. These funds are earmarked for enhancing workplace conditions. The frequency of SLCP assessment sharing has risen, with each assessment being distributed nearly three times on average, a 16% increase from 2023. Data suggests that sustained application of the CAF aids facilities in pinpointing and diminishing legal non-compliances, fostering improvements in the workplace environment. The CAF's growing use and refinements to the Data Collection Tool have allowed SLCP to derive more insights from aggregate facility data. Notably, the framework now integrates more detailed gender-related data points, underscoring the capability of SLCP data to discern trends and influence policy development. Key findings from the report include: - Overtime working hours remain a significant issue, with a strong correlation identified between excessive hours and subcontractor usage as well as wage determination based on legal minimums rather than living wages. - The majority of legal non-compliances identified in SLCP assessments relate to the Wages and Benefits section of the CAF. - Despite women constituting 59% of the workforce in SLCP facilities, they hold only 33% of supervisory or managerial roles. Additionally, 35% of facilities report higher compensation for men over women in equivalent positions. The report also underscores SLCP's collaborative efforts and policy initiatives through partnerships with stakeholders and other multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs). It emphasises that while SLCP plays a vital role in improving working conditions, substantial progress requires unified action and robust collaboration within the industry. SLCP CEO Janet Mensink said:'We're seeing clear evidence that our vision and mission are being realised, with users of the CAF making tangible improvements to working conditions that are being reflected in assessments the following years. 'But there's still much more work to be done in the industry. Our aggregate facility data shows that 92 per cent of assessments in 2024 included at least one non-compliance against the national labour law. This is why our work continues to be so critical – in the policy space, through collaboration with stakeholders, and in the growing adoption of SLCP. Together, we can continue to drive meaningful change.' In April this year, SLCP introduced an updated version (1.7) of its CAF. "Facilities using SLCP framework see drop in labour law violations" was originally created and published by Just Style, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SLCP updates framework to strengthen social, labour compliance data
The enhancements are expected to increase transparency in this data, thereby supporting the promotion of fair labour practices within international supply chains. SLCP CEO Janet Mensink said: 'This update is part of our multi-year CAF roadmap, designed to ensure that the Converged Assessment Framework remains both relevant and scalable in an evolving regulatory environment. Version 1.7 introduces enhancements that will not only maintain high-quality reports and provide credible, actionable data, but also better align with emerging human rights due diligence standards. The new version also includes features that make it easier to identify and address social and labour issues, enabling facilities to share critical findings with brands during the assessment, rather than waiting for a final report.' The Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM), which is based on SLCP's CAF, forms a component of Cascale's Higg Index, a collection of tools exclusively accessible through Worldly, a platform offering insights into sustainability within supply chains. Both the Higg FSLM and SLCP's CAF are designed to tackle systemic labour issues and promote equitable working conditions worldwide. They also aim to reduce the burden of repeated audits on manufacturers and suppliers. These tools undergo annual updates by SLCP, Cascale, and Worldly in line with feedback from stakeholders to maintain their relevance and enhance their functionality. With the release of CAF v1.7 for the Higg FSLM, there is now greater alignment with due diligence processes and governance requirements, notes SLCP. This update is said to promote a more uniform and systematic method for assessing social and labour practices, contributing to increased transparency in the consumer goods sector's supply chains. Such improvements not only make businesses more robust but also help in uncovering potential risks. This systematic methodology allows facilities to consistently recognise, confront, and lessen significant concerns while supporting workers' rights and welfare, as well as evaluating overall workplace conditions. Moreover, it sharpens the detection of non-compliance within the data set and aligns with Better Work Zero Tolerance Protocols as well as International Labour Organization (ILO) Core Conventions for consistency with international labour standards. Cascale Higg Index SVP Jeremy Lardeau said: 'The Higg FSLM is a critical tool underpinning Cascale's Support Decent Work for All strategic pillar, through which we aim to champion workers' rights, ensure fair purchasing practices, and streamline audits to foster safe and equitable workplaces. 'Especially at a time when tariffs highlight the fragility of global supply chains, these tools are critically important. When companies use a common benchmark to measure and improve performance, they build efficiencies that reduce audit fatigue and, ultimately, save time and money." In addition to updating the CAF, SLCP is broadening verifications to include 44 new countries and providing additional language options for self-assessment tools. The CAF will now be accessible in Latin American Spanish, supplementing existing versions in English, Chinese, Turkish, and Vietnamese. In May last year, SLCP reported that over 80% of the brands and manufacturers who have pledged to use its data have indicated they could substitute their own proprietary instruments with the CAF. "SLCP updates framework to strengthen social, labour compliance data" was originally created and published by Just Style, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SLCP updates framework to strengthen social, labour compliance data
The enhancements are expected to increase transparency in this data, thereby supporting the promotion of fair labour practices within international supply chains. SLCP CEO Janet Mensink said: 'This update is part of our multi-year CAF roadmap, designed to ensure that the Converged Assessment Framework remains both relevant and scalable in an evolving regulatory environment. Version 1.7 introduces enhancements that will not only maintain high-quality reports and provide credible, actionable data, but also better align with emerging human rights due diligence standards. The new version also includes features that make it easier to identify and address social and labour issues, enabling facilities to share critical findings with brands during the assessment, rather than waiting for a final report.' The Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM), which is based on SLCP's CAF, forms a component of Cascale's Higg Index, a collection of tools exclusively accessible through Worldly, a platform offering insights into sustainability within supply chains. Both the Higg FSLM and SLCP's CAF are designed to tackle systemic labour issues and promote equitable working conditions worldwide. They also aim to reduce the burden of repeated audits on manufacturers and suppliers. These tools undergo annual updates by SLCP, Cascale, and Worldly in line with feedback from stakeholders to maintain their relevance and enhance their functionality. With the release of CAF v1.7 for the Higg FSLM, there is now greater alignment with due diligence processes and governance requirements, notes SLCP. This update is said to promote a more uniform and systematic method for assessing social and labour practices, contributing to increased transparency in the consumer goods sector's supply chains. Such improvements not only make businesses more robust but also help in uncovering potential risks. This systematic methodology allows facilities to consistently recognise, confront, and lessen significant concerns while supporting workers' rights and welfare, as well as evaluating overall workplace conditions. Moreover, it sharpens the detection of non-compliance within the data set and aligns with Better Work Zero Tolerance Protocols as well as International Labour Organization (ILO) Core Conventions for consistency with international labour standards. Cascale Higg Index SVP Jeremy Lardeau said: 'The Higg FSLM is a critical tool underpinning Cascale's Support Decent Work for All strategic pillar, through which we aim to champion workers' rights, ensure fair purchasing practices, and streamline audits to foster safe and equitable workplaces. 'Especially at a time when tariffs highlight the fragility of global supply chains, these tools are critically important. When companies use a common benchmark to measure and improve performance, they build efficiencies that reduce audit fatigue and, ultimately, save time and money." In addition to updating the CAF, SLCP is broadening verifications to include 44 new countries and providing additional language options for self-assessment tools. The CAF will now be accessible in Latin American Spanish, supplementing existing versions in English, Chinese, Turkish, and Vietnamese. In May last year, SLCP reported that over 80% of the brands and manufacturers who have pledged to use its data have indicated they could substitute their own proprietary instruments with the CAF. "SLCP updates framework to strengthen social, labour compliance data" was originally created and published by Just Style, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
