Lidl will be the first retailer in Germany to use Fairtrade’s living wage tools and pay an additional price premium for the bananas they buy from plantations. In doing so, the company is making a decisive contribution to ensuring that workers in the banana sector receive a living wage in the long term.
With this new commitment, Lidl will be paying a so-called living wage differential, based on an independent living wage benchmark for each of the regions where they buy bananas grown on large farms – making up about 96 percent of all bananas on Lidl shelves.
Fairtrade calculates this differential as the portion of the living wage benchmark that companies should pay in order to fairly contribute to living wages for workers at the start of the supply chain.
Unlike a legal minimum wage, a living wage is one that covers the cost of basic necessities such as food, water and housing, as well as expenses for education, medical care, transportation, clothing and reserves for emergency situations.
Lidl will be paying the differential for Fairtrade certified organic and conventional bananas, as well as for bananas bearing the Rainforest Alliance label. According to Lidl, the additional costs incurred will not be passed on to consumers.
Source: fairtrade.net