No Olympic Gold For Underpaid Sweatswhop Workers

Friday, 08 June 2007

At the Olympic Games in Athens this year, the logos of McDonalds,
Samsung, Coca-Cola, and other multinational advertisers are saturating
the festivities to the tune of USD1.339 million. But the corporate
self-promotion and commercial branding won't end when the games come to
a close.

Sportswear companies have negotiated USD81 million worth of licenses
from the International Olympic Committee, allowing them to adorn their
products with Olympic emblems. Behind the five intertwined rings and the
Athens 2004 kotinos laurel wreath insignia, hidden from the eyes of the
world, non-union, underpaid labour will be sewing the shirts, gluing the
shoes, and putting zippers to running suits and track apparel branded as
Olympic in working conditions that would make even the most highly
trained athlete sweat.

While the sportswear market was valued at over USD58 billion in 2002,
and select athletes garner millions of dollars through corporate
endorsements - such as football champion David Beckham's USD161 million
lifetime deal with Adidas - workers in sweatshops in Indonesia,
Bulgaria, Cambodia, Turkey, China, Thailand, and elsewhere are paid a
dollar or two a day, while facing hyper-exploitation, unhealthy working
environments, sexual harassment, verbal and even physical violence from
their employers.

This year, Global Unions, Oxfam, the Clean Clothes Campaign and other
groups are aiming to change these conditions by turning the spotlight on
the situation of workers producing apparel and athletic footwear for
sportswear giants Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Fila, Puma, ASICS, Mizuno,
Kappa, and Umbro. They call their campaign "Play Fair." "Play Fair
campaigners interviewed close to 200 workers in factories worldwide and
in factories producing goods for Olympic brands," says Katherine
Daniels, trade policy advisor at Oxfam, "and they found cases of workers
working shifts up to 16 - even 18 - hours for pittance wages that are
not enough to live on. And they found gross intimidation and violations
of workers rights, and intimidation for those who wanted to form or join
trade unions."

Organizing around workers' rights in sweatshops poses many challenges,
particularly since capital invested in the garment industry is some of
the most mobile in the global economy. Campaigners and workers are
constantly aware that shops may close down and relocate at the merest
sign of labour unrest.

And while the conditions in apparel and footwear factories in the global
South may be appalling, sweatshop jobs may often be better than other
local jobs. Some critics in developing countries have expressed concern
that anti-sweatshop activism might backfire and lead to the shutting
down of factories and the loss of jobs.

The issue of the survival of jobs in the garment industry, including in
sweatshops, is a pressing concern for other reasons. Many countries will
face the devastation of sportswear jobs at the end of 2004 when the
World Trade Organization lifts the quotas that have regulated trade in
the apparel industry. "On December 31st of this year, those subsidies
will be completely dismantled, says Alejandra Domenzain of Sweatshop
Watch. "There are entire countries - for example, in Bangladesh
something like 70% of their national income comes from their textile
industry - [whose] economies are going to be devastated."

Source, Sasha Lilley at CorpWatch
20 August 2004