Fair wages

High wage levels at our producers

We think it is important that those people who make our products are paid fairly. Therefore, we ask our producers to pay their employees adequately.

Our Chinese producers pay on average 50 percent above the legal minimum wage and 17 percent below the "Asian Floor Wage" (AFW).

In Vietnam, the wages are on average 115 percent above the legal minimum wage and 13 percent below the AFW. This shows us that our producers have a fairly high wage level.

How we determine income levels

We cannot say for our producers, however, how high the standard starting salary is for each department, as we do not get this information from them or from the FWF. Therefore, the FWF has developed the “Wage Ladder” to show this information. In this ladder, three types of salary data are available for every production department (management & staff are not represented). The orientation is determined by the lowest, highest and most frequently paid wage in a department.

GRI:

EC5

Problem: A lack of meaningful benchmarks

The problem with the calculation of fair wages is that there is no meaningful calculation of a "living wage". So far, the FWF has drawn on the approach of the AFW.

But in China and Vietnam this is not very meaningful because the different living conditions in different regions were not taken into consideration for these calculations. Nevertheless, in China there are already many local stakeholders who have defined realistic benchmarks, although not in each region. Therefore, we have no reliable statements that we can call upon when working with producers.

Obligation to pay a living wage

With its membership in the "Fair Wear Foundation" (FWF), VAUDE has made a long-term commitment to the payment of living wages. The current situation will be evaluated in FWF Audits.

In two factories in Vietnam and in all tested manufacturers in China, there were a total of 19 complaints about "payment of a living wage". The most frequent reasons were that the legal premium of 200% for overtime was not adhered to (overtime is often paid at only 150 percent of the regular wage), or that the wage was below the salary cap, which was calculated by local stakeholders.