BRUXELLES, 7 June 2010: As the frenzy grows over the upcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa, there is a part of the World Cup that won’t be broadcast on TV.
The Play Fair Alliance Monday asked FIFA to respond to the report “Missed the Goal for Workers: the Reality of Soccer Ball Stitchers”, released by US-based NGO International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) on Monday.
The report reveals that workers stitching soccer balls in Pakistan, India, China and Thailand continue to experience alarming labour rights violations. The research found that child labour still exists in the Pakistani industry and is also occurring in India and China.
In the 13 years since the soccer ball industry signed the “Atlanta Agreement” committing to clean up the industry, regular reports of violations of human rights in soccer ball production have been brought to the attention of key actors in the industry including global brands and FIFA.
Most recently, in 2008, the Play Fair Alliance, which consists of the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF), published research on China, India and Thailand, where workers reported wages below the legal minimum despite working 12-13 hours a day. Home-based workers in India reported piece rates as low as 0.35 US dollar per ball, completing two to four balls a day.
– It is shocking that after all of these years, low wages and other labour rights violations are still the norm and not the exception in the industry, commented Ineke Zeldenrust from the Clean Clothes Campaign, and continued: – As fans worldwide get excited about the games, the public expects FIFA and the soccer ball industry to finally live up to its promises.
– ITUC has invited FIFA Monday to discuss concrete measures that can be taken to clean up the industry. It is a scandal that so many workers are subjected to appalling exploitation in an industry that generates so much wealth, and we are looking to FIFA to take the lead in ensuring a fair deal for these workers, said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder.
Other problems highlighted in the report are gender discrimination against female home-based workers, who are paid the least and face constant threat of losing their jobs due to pregnancy; overlong working hours as in one Chinese factory, where workers were found to work as many as 21 hours a day without a day off for an entire month; and lack of proper drinking water or medical care facilities, and even toilets, as found in Indian stitching centres.
– These conditions are absolutely unacceptable said Patrick Itschert, general secretary of the ITGLWF. – FIFA must take concrete steps to ensure that the human rights of all those engaged in producing soccer balls are respected.
The Play Fair Alliance calls on FIFA and the soccer ball industry to take immediate action to address the issues of extremely low wages, proliferation of temporary workers, and a lack of civil society engagement in working to improve conditions for the very workers that produce the ball at the centre of the World Cup 2010 games.
The Global Union for Construction Workers, the BWI, has also been in dialogue with FIFA, to enlist its support for better rights and conditions for workers building and renovating venues used international tournaments.
– We have had to issue FIFA a yellow card on this, since workers building the stadiums where these tournaments are held are not getting a fair deal either,” said BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson.
