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Olympic supply chains should be ethical - ITUC
08 May '12
5 min read
This included making information about employment rights available in Chinese and establishing a Chinese language hotline so that workers could complain about ill treatment. “Fair Games?” shows that the abuse of workers in Olympic supply chains was also happening in other countries.
To illustrate the extent of the problem and to convince the IOC that it needs to do more to improve the treatment of workers making goods for the next Games in Brazil, the TUC has submitted a number of complaints to LOCOG on behalf of the workers from China and the Philippines who are featured in the report.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “Despite the London organisers' best intentions and its confidence that factory audits would be enough to expose any abuses, this report shows that there have been goods made in Olympic supply chains where the workers were treated in a way that cannot be described as ethical.
“We hope that the IOC can benefit from LOCOG's experience and ensure that the lessons learned in 2012 lead to better and fairer working conditions for those producing sportswear or merchandise in the run up to Rio 2016. There is much too in this report for sportswear brands and our high street chains to take on board.”
Klaus Priegnitz, General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF), which wrote the report, said: “Prior to the Beijing Olympics Play Fair called on companies to take action to ensure the human rights of all workers in their supply chains were respected.
“Four years on we see that the denial of the right to freedom of association, the payment of poverty wages and the widespread use of precarious work is still the norm. Companies need to step up their game and work with unions to support the development of mature systems of industrial relations in their supplier factories.”
Sharan Burrow, International Trade Union Confederation General Secretary (ITUC) said: “We need the IOC to take responsibility and make labour rights and decent work a reality for all workers producing for any Olympic Games.”
Anna McMullen, co-ordinator of the garment workers' rights campaign Labour Behind the Label, said: “In an industry where exploitation is the norm, brands, like the IOC or Olympic sponsor Adidas, must take action in order to break the cycle of human rights abuse. If they just stand by and watch, reports like this will keep occurring. Now is the time to make a difference.”
Fair Games? is published by the Play Fair Campaign which is co-ordinated by the International Trade Union Confederation, the ITGLWF, the Clean Clothes Campaign and Building and Wood Workers' International. The Playfair 2012 Campaign is the UK arm of the global campaign and exists to influence the London Games organisers and international sportswear brands to raise the bar on workers' rights in the run-up to this summer's Games.
To illustrate the extent of the problem and to convince the IOC that it needs to do more to improve the treatment of workers making goods for the next Games in Brazil, the TUC has submitted a number of complaints to LOCOG on behalf of the workers from China and the Philippines who are featured in the report.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “Despite the London organisers' best intentions and its confidence that factory audits would be enough to expose any abuses, this report shows that there have been goods made in Olympic supply chains where the workers were treated in a way that cannot be described as ethical.
“We hope that the IOC can benefit from LOCOG's experience and ensure that the lessons learned in 2012 lead to better and fairer working conditions for those producing sportswear or merchandise in the run up to Rio 2016. There is much too in this report for sportswear brands and our high street chains to take on board.”
Klaus Priegnitz, General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF), which wrote the report, said: “Prior to the Beijing Olympics Play Fair called on companies to take action to ensure the human rights of all workers in their supply chains were respected.
“Four years on we see that the denial of the right to freedom of association, the payment of poverty wages and the widespread use of precarious work is still the norm. Companies need to step up their game and work with unions to support the development of mature systems of industrial relations in their supplier factories.”
Sharan Burrow, International Trade Union Confederation General Secretary (ITUC) said: “We need the IOC to take responsibility and make labour rights and decent work a reality for all workers producing for any Olympic Games.”
Anna McMullen, co-ordinator of the garment workers' rights campaign Labour Behind the Label, said: “In an industry where exploitation is the norm, brands, like the IOC or Olympic sponsor Adidas, must take action in order to break the cycle of human rights abuse. If they just stand by and watch, reports like this will keep occurring. Now is the time to make a difference.”
Fair Games? is published by the Play Fair Campaign which is co-ordinated by the International Trade Union Confederation, the ITGLWF, the Clean Clothes Campaign and Building and Wood Workers' International. The Playfair 2012 Campaign is the UK arm of the global campaign and exists to influence the London Games organisers and international sportswear brands to raise the bar on workers' rights in the run-up to this summer's Games.
International Trade Union Confederation
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