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16 April, 2026A new report from ACT (Action, Collaboration, Transformation), the agreement between global brands and retailers and IndustriALL Global Union, shows progress in how signatory brands are approaching purchasing practices, while also identifying significant gaps between corporate commitments and supplier experience on the ground.
The ACT Accountability and monitoring report 2025, released on 15 April, draws on responses from 1,049 brand employees across 18 signatory brands and 1,055 suppliers in more than 70 production countries. The scale and methodology of the report are significant: rather than relying on brand self-reporting alone, the findings are cross-referenced with supplier feedback, providing a more honest picture of where change is and isn’t happening.
Where progress is being made
The report identifies the strongest advances in sourcing strategy and responsible exit practices. There are also signs of improvement in labour costing and planning systems, though challenges remain around forecast accuracy and the consistent protection of labour costs from price pressure.
Suppliers identified five purchasing practices as most critical to enabling higher wages: price negotiation, forecasting and capacity planning, sourcing strategy, buyer-supplier relations and terms of payment.
Where the gaps remain
The report also highlights areas where supplier experience does not match corporate reporting, particularly in labour costing and some payment-related practices. This is not a minor finding. It goes to the heart of why ACT’s accountability framework exists: to move beyond policy statements and test whether commitments are being lived up to in practice.
Why this matters for IndustriALL
IndustriALL Global Union is a founding member and co-architect of ACT. The framework is built on the conviction that collective bargaining, supported by responsible purchasing practices and genuine respect for freedom of association, is the most effective and sustainable route to improved wages and working conditions. This aligns with ILO conclusions on wage policies, including living wages.
This report demonstrates that the ACT model works precisely because it does not allow brands to be the sole judges of their own progress. The 360-degree methodology, triangulating data from brands, brand employees and suppliers, is what gives the findings credibility. When it surfaces uncomfortable gaps, that is the framework functioning as intended.
ACT executive director Mira Neumaier described the process as
“a collective, learning-based process”
rather than a static compliance exercise, with the primary objective of enabling fact-based conversations across global supply chains.
The 18 current ACT signatory brands include Asos, C&A, H&M Group, Inditex, Lidl, Next, Primark, PVH, Tesco and Zalando, among others.
The full report is available at actonlivingwages.com.