What we want
Exploitation and denial of basic workers’ rights are rife in the sportswear, garment and merchandise industries. This won’t be solved overnight. But this doesn’t absolve the Olympic movement of responsibility.
Playfair 2012 believes that the Olympic movement can and should raise the bar for workers’ rights. It should ensure that internationally-recognised labour standards, embodied in the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Core Conventions and the Ethical Trading Initiative base code are respected for workers producing goods with the Olympic logo. These standards are encompassed by the ILO’s concept of Decent Work – a strategy to build fair, equitable and inclusive societies.
The Olympic brand is worth hundreds of millions of pounds to the sportswear industry, and this leverage should be used to ensure that the Olympic and Paralympic Games act as a beacon for fair play and dignity, not another example of exploitation and worker rights abuses.
The issues for workers – in numbers…
pounds a day making £50 running shoes
hour shifts, 7 days per week
hours of forced overtime in one week
death threat for trying to form a union
What we want from the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games
