Behind The Label: Fair Trade At The Olympics
By Anne O'Loughlin
Filed Under The Big Picture |
Unlike past Olympics, this year’s games saw a worldwide protest that swept in to challenge the frequent abuse of human rights, aggression against Tibet, and environmental hazards that China is notorious for. There’s nothing like a billion-dollar, media-happy, corporate-sponsored international event like the Olympics to shed some light on matters of social justice and environmental responsibility and to inspire opportunities for the export behemoth to make positive changes.
That’s where the Play Fair 2008 Campaign comes in. Organized by the Clean Clothes Campaign, the International Trade Union Confederation, and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers Federation, Play Fair 2008 is an international campaign pushing for respect for worker’s rights in the global sporting goods industry.
Even as the fair trade and green movements grow larger and stronger, we still cannot seem to resist the temptation to inexpensively produce goods in China and place them on our shelves in Europe and North America. There are responsible, local businesses in most countries who make it their policy to fairly compensate the manufacturers of their products such as Washington state-based Fair Trade Sports, but this remains a rarity.
As the Olympic torch, traditionally known as a symbol of peace and international unity, made it’s way around the globe last spring, thousands of protesters hit the streets in cities such as Paris, London and San Francisco aiming to raise awareness amongst the mainstream media about these pressing issues, especially magnifying China’s take-over and occupation of Tibet and their role in the Darfur conflict.
Following the protests, the Play Fair campaign issued a press release announcing the findings of a new investigative report shaming Olympic sponsors and suppliers Nike and Adidas. Based on over 300 interviews with garment workers in China, India, Thailand and Indonesia, the report (titled Clearing the Hurdles) exposes numerous violations of workers
rights, excessive overtime hours, and poverty wages, claiming they are still the norm of the sportswear industry. “While the profits of major brands like Nike and Adidas are soaring through the roof, the workers sewing their garments continue to make poverty wages and work under indecent conditions,” says Liana Foxvog, the national organizer of SweatFree Communities, one of the organizations that is supporting the Play Fair 2008 campaign. “Behind the rhetoric of corporate responsibility, very little has changed.”
According to the International Olympic Committee, the Beijing Olympic Games are set to be the most profitable in the games’ history, with almost $100 million dollars alone coming from the garment sponsors-sponsors whose manufacturing facilities employ workers who are blatantly and unfairly treated. At the New Balance factory in Dongguan, China, a worker explained to the report interviewers, “I am exhausted to death now…none of us have time to go to toilet or drink water…we are working without rest and are always afraid of not working fast enough to supply soles to the next production line.”
The Play Fair Campaign has put together a campaign statement which outlines steps that sportswear companies, the International Olympic Committee, and national governments should and can take to follow up on their responsibilities to improve conditions for the working people of China. The campaign statement calls for the International Olympic Committee and its national organizing committees to commit resources to investigation of working conditions and to establish mechanisms to end abusive and exploitative labor practices. It calls on sports brands to undertake steps to address the living wage issue and to inform the public about the working conditions under which their goods were produced. It calls upon governments in general to implement policies that promote socially responsible behavior in international business relations, and upon the Chinese government in particular to live up to their promise to improve human rights. After all, what’s more in the spirit of the Olympics than encouraging and engaging its hosts to clean up their act and truly play a fair game?
Inspired to make a difference? Take Action!
- Begin by sending a protest letter to the IOC and industry leaders
- Refuse to buy products made by irresponsible companies
- Support companies who differentiate themselves by inviting people to check their sources of manufacture and pride themselves on supporting the people who work for them
Posted on August 20, 2008 |
Comments
2 Responses to “Behind The Label: Fair Trade At The Olympics”
Leave a Reply
-
Buy eCo Products
It is so disheartening that with all of the hype around Corporate Social Responsibility and awards being handed out like after dinner mints
unethical business practices are still the norm for giants such as Nike and Adidas…
Thanks Anne for once again clearing away the smoke and mirrors.
It may be too late to influence sponsors of this year’s Olympics, but it’s not too late to campaign for Fair Trade at the next one. I’d like to see pressure on the Olympic organizing committee and participation in the campaign by Fair Trade manufacturers.