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Global Standard for
Worker Voice Data

→ What is relevant worker voice data?
→ How should it be collected?
→ How much should workers be paid for data?
→ How will workers control and own their data?
→ How will data be interoperable and shared?
→ How to avoid data exploitation?

The standard defines what data from workers is necessary, sufficient and credible to evidence you are treating them fairly.

Only workers can confirm working conditions in a supply chain. By using their own smartphones, being paid directly for data and owning the data they create, workers can definitively validate claims of fair treatment.

Worker Voice Data is at the core of compliance to the man-datory HRDD requirement under EU Corporate Sustainability Directive, the UK or Australian Modern Slavery Acts.

Data to check compliance

Affordable mobile devices and connectivity, digital literacy, ‘zero-knowledge’ anonymity and privacy, and a strong incentive of direct payment for data.

Mandatory regulatory compliance today says what is ex-pected functionally and objectively. Only direct and unfiltered data can prove you have done due diligence. Only direct worker voice delivers the trust regulators demand.

Workers are connected and aware. They can use social media. They can produce structured primary data about their working conditions to corroborate a technical audit of a factory or farm. Vast amounts of worker provided data will be cross-referenced with AI.

A data standard enables regulators, buyers, suppliers, unions, NGOs and communities to trust data integrity.

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FAQ

As of May 2023, this process includes Electronics and Garments Manufacturing, Food & Agriculture (Cotton, Spices, Coffee, Grains, Fruits, Nuts and ready-for-market Vegetables). The Process is using data from various industry sectors to shape the standard, but the output will apply to any industry aiming to use worker voice data to meet regulatory compliance.
As of May 2023, this process includes worker voice data from Australia, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Mexico, and Thailand. The data includes both domestic and migrant worker voice. The output will apply in any country where producers, processors, brands or retailers aim to use worker voice data to meet regulatory compliance.
The process was started by Bluenumber Foundation (USA), Be Slavery Free (AUS/NZ), Unseen (UK), and The Mekong Club (HK) in 2022 to develop guidance for gathering and analyzing DWV data for human rights due diligence.
The process operates under the Bluenumber Foundation, a registered non-profit foundation in the State of New York.

The process is governed by an Ethics Committee which also acts as a Steering Committee.

 

Organizations joining after 1 May 2023 must make a donation toward the ongoing costs of the process. This is as follows:

Type

Amount (USD)

Worker or Farmer Organizations

$500

NGOs and CSOs

$500

For-Profit – Technology Providers (Traceability, Mobile, etc.)

$2,500

For-Profit – Other Services (Auditors, Scheme Owners, Risk Advisory, etc)

$5,000

Consumer Brands or Supply Chain Operators

$50,000

Observers (Policymakers, Regulators and Trade Unions)

Voluntary

 

You must sign an agreement with the Secretariat of the process, acting on behalf of the Ethics Committee. The agreement formalizes details described in this FAQ and elsewhere on this website.

You can join all meetings, workstreams, consultations, and proceedings of the process. You will get access to all resources created since the start of the process. By participating actively you will help shape the standard and ensure the output is responsive to your own sector, industry or service area. You will be recognized as a co-creator with the others also participating in the process. The draft standard will be introduced at an event in Geneva in conjunction with the 2023 UN Annual Business and Human Rights Forum. Beyond that, the process will continue until 31 December 2024 as various projects applying the standard are done. You will be able to engage with all the stakeholders and project proponents, study and analyze the datasets from projects in different sectors, and help to refine the standard as a global public good.
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Ready to join? Make your donation and let us know via the form below, or if you need more information.


    Check confirmation email from  secretariat@directworkervoice.org

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