Playing fair at the Olympics
This week Congress wrote to the Irish press to highlight the plight of those working on Olympic garments and merchandise, timely considering the national pre-occupation with who would carry the Olympic torch. A copy of the letter can be viewed here.
The ideal...
"Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on ... respect for universal fundamental ethical principles." (The Olympic Charter, 2007)
The reality...
"We are so exhausted trying to get the Olympic bags done in time! Every one of us works till very late. And the following day we still go to work at 7.30am! What sort of life it this?" (Worker at a factoryproducing merchandise for the 2008 Olympics.)
Workers making Olympic sportswear for London 2012 for top brands and high street names including Adidas and Next are being paid poverty wages, forced to work excessive overtime and threatened with instant dismissal if they complain about working conditions, according to a new report from the Playfair 2012 campaign.
The Playfair 2012 campaign wants the organisers of the London Olympics and companies to aim for gold and ensure that workers producing sportswear and goods with the Olympic logo have their rights respected.
Millions of people are employed in the global supply chains that produce kits for Olympic teams, and the sportswear and Olympic souvenirs available on our high streets. These mainly women workers, not just the athletes, help to make the Olympics possible.
But, evidence shows that the sportswear industry and Olympic movement have a poor track record on workers' rights. Playfair 2008 research found workers employed by Adidas suppliers in China earning £20 per month for glueing sports shoes that sell for £50 plus, and others working 80 hours a week stitching footballs. Adidas is one of London 2012's main sponsors and licensees. In another factory producing stationery, children as young as 12 years old were being forced to work 15 hours a day.
In the run up to London 2012, the Play Fair campaign has found exploitative working conditons in 10 factories making Olypmic goods and sportswear in China, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Workers were making London 2012 pin badges, mascots, uniforms for London 2012 officials and a range of sportswear carrying the Olypmic logo/Team GB logo. Conditions for workers included poverty pay, forced overtime, unsafe working conditions, discrimination, repeated use of short-term contracts, and use of anti-union tactics to prevent workers from trying to improve their pay and conditions.
This has to change. Acting together, we can demand that the Olympic Movement and sportswear industry do much more to ensure that the human rights of workers making their goods are respected.
Check out the Playfair campaign for more information and to see what you can do to get more involved.