Labour rights for the world cup!
As world cup has been promoted as an icon for enjoyment of all ages all over the world, we are here to highlight workers' rights in the sports industry.
Source : Apo Leong (Asia Monitor Resource Center)
 1/ Sports industry is growing bigger and bigger. Apart from being used for political/diplomatic purposes, these events have significant commercial and economic meanings. Sporting events are no longer simply about competition between national teams, but are also fields of competition for TNCs. This year's official sponsers for 2002 world cup come from McDonald's, Adidas, Fuji Film, Hyundai and others. All are big brand names.
2/ As world cup has been promoted as an icon for enjoyment of all ages all over the world, we are here to highlight workers' rights in the sports industry. We have here workers and organisers from various countries where the FIFA products are produced, who will testify how workers' rights are being violated, and how workers are fighting back, and appealling for international solidarity among peoples of the world.
2/ Cases from research on soccer balls, sports wear, sourvenier. Long working hours, low pay, poor health and safety, denial of rights to organise, sexual harassment, etc are rampant. (CIC, India, Thai, Indonesia, Phil, Thail cases)
3/ According to a recent report in the UK on sports retailers, half of them do not have any codes of conduct. The only major concern for them is forced labour issue or child labour, and most of them do not cover other international labour standards such as the right to organise. For those famous brand names such as Nike, Reebok, Adidas, our concern is transparency, independent monitoring and verification, workers training.
4/ Korean TNCs are more and more visible in Central America, Mekong region, SE Asian countries, and even as far as south Asia, but cases of suppression, physical assaults, and poor working conditions are drawing much attention from us. We need to build up a stronger link with our Korean brothers and sisters to defend our fundamentat rights together.
Drafted by
Apo Leong
Executive Director
Asia Monitor Resource Center
444 Nathan Road, 8B
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel - 852 2332 1346
Fax - 852 2385 5319
Emial: admin@amrc.org.hk
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