As the European Commission develops its Quality Jobs Roadmap to promote fair wages, decent working conditions, and inclusive job transitions, the Fair Trade Movement has submitted its feedback to the public call for evidence. In its response, the Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO), on behalf of the Fair Trade Movement, highlights concrete proposals to ensure quality jobs in the textile and agricultural sectors, where workers' rights and livelihoods are too often at risk. From living wages to fair purchasing practices, the Fair Trade Movement is calling for an EU roadmap that embeds fairness at its core, both within and beyond Europe's borders.
The Fair Trade Movement’s contribution
The creation of quality jobs in the textile sector aligns with the 2022 EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, which sets out that by 2030, textile products placed on the EU market shall be produced in respect of social rights. The focus of FTAO's contribution on how to ensure a fair and just transition for workers in the textile sector with decent working conditions, especially guaranteed living wages and living incomes.
The creation of quality jobs in the agricultural sector is also a priority set out in the Vision for Agriculture and Food, as almost 30 million people (15% of EU employment) perform work within the EU agri-food system. In the Vision, the Commission has recognised the precarity of work conditions for farmers and agricultural workers and seeks to reignite the attractiveness of the sector. For the Fair Trade Movement, it is important that the Commission recognises that good quality jobs in the agricultural sector shall be achieved by measures that overall strengthen the EU agri-food systems, duly considering the external dimension of the EU agri-food system.
In the view of the Fair Trade Movement, a successful EU Quality Jobs Roadmap must include (not exhaustive):
- Promoting quality jobs equally inside and outside the EU
- Promotion of fair business models that create positive externalities on job quality
- Guarantee of living wages for workers and living incomes for farmers and self-employed persons
- Tackling unfair purchasing practices by strengthening the UTP Directive and by introducing a similar tool in the textile sector
- Communication on working conditions in the textile sector towards consumers
- Mandatory social criteria in public procurement
Read the FTAO's full contribution here.