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In This Issue
Editor's Note
Understanding the Complexity of Living Wage
Following the United Nation’s endorsement of a new human rights framework, companies have had an added impetus to ensure that the treatment of their employees, workers in supply chain partners, and people in local communities is just and in accordance with international standards. This week, BSR Manager Roger McElrath breaks down the complexity behind living wage—a critical element of fair employment and workplace conditions.
And BSR Research Manager Linda Hwang reports back from a World Economic Forum meeting in Toronto, where attendees discussed the implications of natural resource scarcity, and in particular, how corporate responsibility increases the costs of extraction.
Finally, we feature a new toolkit developed by the International Council on Mining and Metals that provides companies, civil society, and government with a framework to evaluate the socioeconomic benefits of mining.
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In Depth
Why Is Living Wage So Complex?
By Roger McElrath, Manager, Advisory Services, BSR
The concept of a living wage is deceptively simple: Companies have a responsibility to compensate workers for their labor at a level that allows them to access goods and services that equate to a decent standard of living. But the devil is in the details: What is a living wage, who is responsible for ensuring that it is defined, and what is the role of the company?
Read more →
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On the Record
The Economic Implications of Resource Scarcity
By
Last week in Toronto, Canada, the World Economic Forum hosted a roundtable on the role of capital and investment in shaping the future of natural resource availability. Participants from mining, agriculture, government, and the investment community discussed how corporate responsibility—and issues such as transparency and local economic development in particular—have created additional costs associated with resource extraction, distribution, and consumption. In particular, attendees emphasized the importance of investing in people to increase their CSR knowledge.
“CSR is an extremely complex area when it comes to resource extraction. People looking in from the outside don’t have a sense of the complexity. We’re trying to figure out how to put it all together and what the key tradeoffs are going to be in terms of building in the extra costs, getting the right people, and time to do it right.”
—Roundtable participant (July 28, 2011)
Toolbox
Evaluating the Socioeconomic Benefits of Mining
The International Council on Mining and Metals launched a toolkit that provides companies, civil society, and government with a framework to evaluate the socioeconomic benefits of mining at local, regional, and national levels. The toolkit—which has been tested in Chile, Ghana, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Peru, and Tanzania—is designed to encourage collaboration among a range of stakeholders on six focus areas: poverty reduction; economic development as it relates to revenue management, regional development planning, and local content; social investment; and dispute resolutions.
The toolkit includes eight modules and an addendum on minerals taxation:
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Preparing an overview of the host country
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Profiling participating mining operations and existing social initiatives and partners
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Measuring the mining industry’s contribution to the host country
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Identifying elements of the host country’s governance policies or practices that help or hinder mining’s economic and social performance
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Measuring a mine’s positive and negative contributions to local communities
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Analyzing a participating mine’s lifecycle impacts on the host country
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Examining direct and indirect mining impacts on governance structures, institutions, and policy choices
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Preparing a country case study
For more information, read about BSR's approach to sustainable local benefits or contact Michael Oxman.
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