The Playfair Brazil, Playfair 2012 and international Play Fair campaigns came together in London from 12-14 December 2011, to exchange top tips and share lessons about how to ensure that the rights of workers delivering the Olympics and World Cup are protected for future games.
Playfair Brazil, UK trade unions and the international Play Fair campaign supporting Playfair 2012
The delegation included Manoel Messias, National Secretary, Central Única dos Trabalhadores; Nilson Duarte Costa, President, Construction Workers Union of Rio de Janeiro & member of the executive secretariat of União Geral dos Trabalhadores (UGT); Maria Susiclea Assis, Treasurer, Textile Workers Union of Sao Paulo & member of the executive secretariat of Força Sindical; Mauricio Rombaldi, Play Fair Coodinator, Building and Wood Workers International; (BWI); Alex Praça, Communications Officer, Trade Union Confederation of Americas (TUCA); and Kristin Blom, Play Fair Campaign Coordinator, ITUC.
A key point for discussion was Playfair 2012’s engagement with the Olympic movement and sportswear brands on protecting the rights of workers in their global supply chains. Playfair Brazil and the international campaign will be continuing this work after London 2012, and campaigners will continue to call for decent work to be at the heart of the Rio Olympics and World Cup across all sectors/industries, including construction and in Brazil’s growing textile sector. Read more…
December 21st, 2011
Sharon Sukhram
Playfair 2012 and the international Play Fair campaign have maintained regular dialogue with Adidas, the official sportswear sponsor for London 2012; Nike and Pentland (makers of Speedo) on respecting workers’ rights in their global supply chains. Dialogue has focused on our key demands – paying a living wage; taking a positive approach to trade unionism; providing job security; and building long-term relationships with suppliers. The campaigns have made practical suggestions about how positive changes can be made.
While the brands have made some improvements in some areas, and mainly on paper, they still aren’t pulling their weight when it comes to respecting the human rights of the workers who make their products.
Read about what Adidas, Nike and Speedo say they are doing on respecting workers’ rights – and Play Fair’s response
December 21st, 2011
Sharon Sukhram
The Playfair 2012 campaign has been lobbying the London Games organisers (LOCOG) to ensure workers making garments and merchandise for the Olympics have their rights respected. And on paper we’ve had reasonable success. LOCOG have adopted a commendable sourcing requirements (based on the Ethical Trading Initiative code) that requires all suppliers and licensees, to make sure, among other things, all factories pay workers a living wage and allow workers the chance to join a union. They’ve also set up a complaints mechanism to allow workers to raise concerns about their rights and safety. LOCOG’s sustainability report states that adidas has managed ‘100% compliance’ with the code, and so far, no complaints have been made to the mechanism. Sounds good yes? The problems arise when we dig deeper… Read more…
December 6th, 2011
Anna
In January, 2,800 workers sewing apparel for Adidas and NIKE at the PT Kizone factory in Indonesia were laid off after their factory shut down abruptly. Nearly half a year’s wages were left unpaid, amounting to around $3.3 million in legally owed severance pay. Read more…
December 5th, 2011
Anna
Workers making sportswear for the major brands should have their rights respected. But this continues to be a distant reality for many workers. With the London Games just around the corner, Olympic values like respect, equality and fair play, should extend to the workers who help make the Games possible.
Interview with Asalettin Arslanoglu, Director of Organising, Textile, Knitting and Clothing Workers’ Union of Turkey (TEKSIF) Read more…
November 29th, 2011
Sharon Sukhram
Brussels, 17 November 2011 (ITUC OnLine): The International Trade Union Confederation, Building and Wood Workers International and the Swiss Union Unia met with FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke at FIFA headquarters today, to inform him that unless Qatar upholds labour rights, the international trade union movement will campaign against the 2022 World Cup being held there. Read more…
November 21st, 2011
Sharon Sukhram
The images below are taken from a series of images shot in Phnom Penh in Cambodia in September 2011. These document the lives of a group of women garment workers who are employed in the Shen Zhou garment factory, a supplier for Adidas’s 2012 Olympics range.
Prem Sreyroth (right), a 24-year-old worker has been working at the Shen Zhou factory since 2005. Every six months she receives a new short-term contract. “Before I could earn around £95-£130 pounds, but now I earn less” she says. “Before there were only two buildings of contract workers but now there are four, so the amount of work is less. I earned only £80 pounds last month,” she explains. |
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November 7th, 2011
Anna
For World Day for Decent Work, 7 Oct 2011, Playfair 2012 is launching Fair’s Fair – life and rights in the global sports industry – a new interactive, cross-curriculum teaching resource for 9 to 14 year olds.
The London 2012 Olympics provides a fantastic opportunity for pupils to learn more about who makes the sportswear and sporting merchandise they buy. Fair’s Fair brings alive the concepts of human rights, equality and fairness by telling the stories of people who make these goods in poorer countries, often working with few rights, and for poverty wages. Read more…
October 5th, 2011
Sharon Sukhram
Slavery Free London logo
Playfair 2012 partner, Anti-Slavery International, has launched The Slavery-Free London campaign. The campaign aims to draw attention to the potential risk of an increase in modern slavery connected to the 2012 Games, and ensure more is done to put a stop it in the run up to, during and after the Games. Read more…
October 4th, 2011
Sharon Sukhram
