Oxfam backs campaign to protect sportswear industry workers
The Clean Clothes Campaign, Global Unions and Oxfam have launched a worldwide campaign to protect sportswear industry workers’ rights in the run up to the Athens Olympics.
‘Play Fair at the Olympics’ is targeting the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and companies such as Fila, Puma, Umbro, Asics and Mizuno, which it is claimed are violating the rights of millions of workers around the world in order to fill shops with the latest and cheapest sports shoes, clothes and accessories in time for the event.
According to the Fair Play campaign, employees are being forced to work longer and harder hours and are being denied their fundamental rights. The research has been drawn from the testimonies of workers and factory managers in
Guy Ryder, general secretary of the 151 million-member International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), said: “The sportswear industry is spending heavily on marketing in the run up to this year’s Olympic Games which is supposed to be a showcase for fairness and human achievement. But the exploitation and abuse of workers’ rights endemic in the industry is violating that Olympic spirit.”
“This global business model is allowing the biggest companies freedom to offload cost and risk down the production chain to those who are least able to resist,” added Adrie Papma, a Play Fair spokesperson for Oxfam. “Women workers are disproportionately affected and expected to work excessive and often unpaid overtime. They are having to battle against discrimination and fight for a living wage, union rights, maternity leave and pensions.”
A number of events are planned this year to push the IOC and the sportswear industry to work with NGOs and union organisations such as the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation to embrace “ethical sourcing” and make their promises of change a reality.
