What is the RSPO?
CNV Internationaal is a member of the RSPO. The RSPO brings together stakeholders such as palm oil producers, retailers and civil society organisations to promote sustainable palm oil worldwide. It sets social and environmental standards for producing and sourcing certified sustainable palm oil.
The Fair Work Monitor on Palm Oil
The Fair Work Monitor developed by CNV Internationaal, is a participatory tool that empowers workers and unions to provide direct insights into labour conditions, supported by expert data analysis. By linking workplace realities with management decisions, the Fair Work Monitor delivers actionable intelligence on social compliance and human rights risks. The latest results show that many palm oil workers still face major challenges: job insecurity, low wages, poor living conditions and weak social dialogue.
Read the Fair Work Monitor report on Indonesia
Read the Fair Work Monitor report on Guatemala and Honduras
Recommendations to the RSPO
To strengthen fair labour conditions across the palm oil supply chain, CNV Internationaal calls on RSPO members to:
- Institutionalise regular, participatory data collection through the Fair Work Monitor as a permanent monitoring and learning mechanism.
- Address identified challenges through collective action, with leadership from RSPO and participation of all actors in the supply chain, to ensure coherent solutions across the system.
- Place worker participation at the heart of sectoral agreements through effective social dialogue and robust collective agreements that ensure sustainable compliance to the RSPO Principles and Criteria.
- Deepen and broaden the dissemination of RSPO Principles and Criteria through outreach campaigns targeting all workers in the palm oil sector. Such initiatives would not only raise general awareness of the certification but also strengthen worker participation in sustainability and labor rights processes, helping to prevent gaps in knowledge that could lead to exclusion or violations. Therefore it is important to develop advocacy or training initiatives in the medium term.
A full list of recommendations can be read in the 2025 policy note.
