Interviews
Poor working conditions besmirch sportswear industry
21 Apr '08
4 min read
Says one worker at a Yue Yuen factory producing for New Balance in Dongguan, China, “I am exhausted to death now. The two of us have to glue 120 pairs of shoes every hour…. We are working without rest and are always afraid of not working fast enough to supply soles to the next production line... We are tired and dirty.”
The report also sheds light on the conditions of workers stitching soccer balls in Thailand, India and China. At Joyful Long factory in China's Pearl River Delta, which supplies adidas, Nike, Umbro and Fila, overtime can reach 232 hours per month while average wages are almost half the legal minimum.
Despite more than 15 years of codes of conduct adopted by most of the major sportswear brands, PF08's report shows that workers still face extreme pressure to meet production quotas, excessive, undocumented and unpaid overtime, verbal abuse, threats to health and safety and a failure to provide legally required health and other insurance programs.
“For years key sportswear brands have argued that they can't raise wages singlehandedly but we believe that collectively they can,“ said Jeroen Merk, of the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC). “These companies control the sportswear and sports shoe markets; by acting together and really leading the sector on wages and other key issues an end to the misery these workers endure is possible.”
Clearing the Hurdles identifies low wages; abuse of short-term contracts and other forms of precarious employment; violations of freedom of association; and the right to collective bargaining, and factory closures due to industry restructuring as the four key issues the sportswear industry must act upon. PF08 has invited industry leaders to participate in a June meeting in Hong Kong to discuss their follow up to Play Fair's proposals.
Last year Play Fair 2008 released a report on rights violations in the production of Olympic-branded goods and since then has been seeking a concrete commitment from the International Olympic Committee on how it will follow up on such issues.
“Five years after we first approached the IOC on this issue, no concrete commitments have been made and it still remains unclear how they will take action on outstanding labour rights issues. We are ready to start working with them right away to get concrete results” said the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Guy Ryder.
The report also sheds light on the conditions of workers stitching soccer balls in Thailand, India and China. At Joyful Long factory in China's Pearl River Delta, which supplies adidas, Nike, Umbro and Fila, overtime can reach 232 hours per month while average wages are almost half the legal minimum.
Despite more than 15 years of codes of conduct adopted by most of the major sportswear brands, PF08's report shows that workers still face extreme pressure to meet production quotas, excessive, undocumented and unpaid overtime, verbal abuse, threats to health and safety and a failure to provide legally required health and other insurance programs.
“For years key sportswear brands have argued that they can't raise wages singlehandedly but we believe that collectively they can,“ said Jeroen Merk, of the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC). “These companies control the sportswear and sports shoe markets; by acting together and really leading the sector on wages and other key issues an end to the misery these workers endure is possible.”
Clearing the Hurdles identifies low wages; abuse of short-term contracts and other forms of precarious employment; violations of freedom of association; and the right to collective bargaining, and factory closures due to industry restructuring as the four key issues the sportswear industry must act upon. PF08 has invited industry leaders to participate in a June meeting in Hong Kong to discuss their follow up to Play Fair's proposals.
Last year Play Fair 2008 released a report on rights violations in the production of Olympic-branded goods and since then has been seeking a concrete commitment from the International Olympic Committee on how it will follow up on such issues.
“Five years after we first approached the IOC on this issue, no concrete commitments have been made and it still remains unclear how they will take action on outstanding labour rights issues. We are ready to start working with them right away to get concrete results” said the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Guy Ryder.
International Trade Union Confederation
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