CNV Internationaal and Wikirate: Sharing and leveraging data to advance advocacy on labour rights

Photo credit: CNV Internationaal

Every day worker rights advocates and trade union organisers advocate for improved working conditions in supply chains. A strong evidence base of data is needed by these groups to strengthen labour rights in negotiations and advocacy work with facilities, brands and governments.

However, all too often structured supply chain data about a specific group of workers or supply chain location is difficult to find and even harder to make sense of.

As part of the Open Data Institute and Humanity United’s Peer Learning Network, CNV Internationaal and Wikirate have teamed up to explore how we can share and leverage data to advance on-the-ground advocacy on labour rights.

What kinds of data do the organisations hold?

Wikirate.org is an open data platform powered by a global community that aggregates corporate sustainability data and makes it accessible to all. The data available on Wikirate comes from a variety of sources including corporate sustainability reports, public supplier lists and research conducted by civil society organisations.

CNV Internationaal is the development organisation of the Dutch trade union CNV, and strives to achieve 100% Fair Work together with international trade union partners. Together with its partner organisations, CNV Internationaal protects and promotes workers’ rights based on the principles of international solidarity, social dialogue and pluralism. Through the Fair Work Monitor, CNV Internationaal holds data collected in collaboration with and by various trade unions, focussing on topics such as living wage, working conditions, freedom of association and grievance mechanisms.

What did we do?

The aim of this initial phase was to explore the types of supply chain data available on Wikirate and compare them against the data held within CNV Internationaal’s Fair Work Monitor dataset.

We zeroed in on a set of 66 apparel facilities in Cambodia where CNV Internationaal and their partners are actively advocating for improved working conditions.

This list was used to filter the relevant data held on Wikirate from public company supplier lists, corporate sustainability reports, aggregate facility investigations and worker surveys.

What data did we find?

Once we had matched the facilities, we could filter Wikirate’s database for all data relating to them. This resulted in an export of just under 1000 data points connected to the 66 facilities.

The data export included:

• 353 supply chain relationships connecting the facilities to 61 global fashion brands dating back to 2016
• 307 datapoints giving demographic information about the facilities including number of workers, gender of workers and number of migrant workers
• 22 datapoints giving information about the coverage of collective bargaining agreements and workers committees
• 6 facilities with aggregate average wage data for workers
• 1 facility where an organisation conducted an investigation into freedom of association violations

Beyond the data connected to specific facilities, we also identified data of interest about the 61 brands on Wikirate:

• 43% have publicly available living wage commitments
• 57% disclose their remediation process
• 58% publicly describe their grievance mechanism for supply chain workers
• 38% state that their grievance mechanism is disseminated to supply chain workers
• 20% disclose the number or percentage of supplier facilities that have independent, democratically elected trade unions
• 10% disclose the number or percentage of workers covered by Collective Bargaining Agreements
• 43% disclose that they engage affected stakeholders in their human rights due diligence

The brand data above is sourced from the Fashion Transparency Index — an annual review of 250 of the world’s largest fashion brands and retailers — created by Fashion Revolution and updated on the Wikirate platform each year.

How can this data be used?

CNV Internationaal can use this data to triangulate the findings from the Fair Work Monitor and identify discrepancies between brand commitments and worker experiences. Furthermore, both CNV Internationaal and its partners can use this data to lobby brands to work towards better working conditions, such as a living wage, freedom of association, and appropriate grievance remediation.

Beyond direct negotiations and campaigning, the data connecting brands to facilities in specific time periods can be used by organisations and worker groups who are seeking redress from brands for human rights violations through mandatory human rights due diligence legislation. Examples of legislation this could fall under include the Germany’s Supply Chains Act, France’s Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law and Norway’s Transparency Act.

What are the next steps for the project?

After CNV Internationaal has triangulated the Fair Work Monitor data with the Wikirate data, we will further analyse how Wikirate data can be used to lobby brands and improve worker conditions. Some follow-up steps include:

• Use triangulated data to discuss findings with partner trade unions and further support their yearly sector tripartite negotiations,
• Identify discrepancies between Fair Work Monitor data and brand commitments,
• Use combined data to strengthen existing programmes of CNV Internationaal and further facilitate stakeholder engagement.

To find out more about CNV Internationaal’s Fair Work Monitor head to their website or get in touch with the Partnerships Coordinator Daantje Bras through d.bras@cnv.nl

Want to learn how you could use this type of data in your work? Head to Wikirate.org or get in touch with our team through info@wikirate.org