Bold Claims, Low Wages: Why Voluntary Sustainability Standards ( VSS ) Struggle to Implement Living Wages

ABSTRACT

Voluntary sustainability standards (VSS)—such as Fairtrade International and the Forest Stewardship Council—aim to improve sustainability in global supply chains by setting high social and environmental standards and certifying businesses that adopt them. This article examines why some VSS adopt ambitious goals for living wages or living incomes yet continue to certify businesses that only pay a minimum wage. Drawing on previous literature, it offers a typology of five ways that VSS can decouple. Drawing on documents, interviews, and participant observation, it offers detailed case studies of how five VSS have engaged in the coupling and decoupling of wage standards. The research identifies four drivers of decoupling: priorities that complete, costs of coupling, low risk of decoupling, and anticipation that coupling will be easier in the future. It also describes several factors that influence these drivers. Finally, it shows how decoupling may paradoxically facilitate progress, while pressure to fully couple may inhibit transformative change, and concludes with recommendations for avoiding empty claims while harnessing aspirational standards.