All of you that signed in will have received the following message. Again, thank you all so much for supporting Catch the Flame and keep your eyes on www.playfair2008.org for any new developments concerning the Olympics and fair working conditions.
Dear Catch the Flame supporters,
If you have received this message, that means you’ve signed in on www.catchtheflame.org and added your name to a list of over 12,000 participants demanding the International Olympic Committee (IOC) finally take responsibility and end exploitation in Olympic supply chains. Thus far the IOC had taken no serious action to ensure that workers’ rights are respected, despite five years of action requests from Play Fair organizations and concerned members of the public like yourself.
With this message, Play Fair would like to extend to you our gratitude for signing in and “Catching the Flame” on its way to Beijing; we’d also like to let you know what’s happened since then. We appreciate all the exciting initiatives around the world to increase the number of alternative torchbearers. We’re grateful to all of you who passed on the flame and helped spread the message that the IOC must take steps to improve working conditions where Olympic goods are produced.
Catch the Flame visits the IOCOn June 10th a delegation of activists, representing a variety of unions, NGOs and the Play Fair 2008 organizers, visited the IOC headquarters in Switzerland to present the IOC with the thousands of signatures of people who took part in the Catch the Flame initiative.
A giant Olympic worker’s rights mascot, a Play Fair Fuwa, presented a book with the 12,000 signatures to representatives of the IOC. Again, we voiced our concerns and urged the IOC to take immediate action on labour rights.
The IOC continues to ignore the problemBut again, the IOC would not make any commitment whatsoever to change working conditions in Olympic supply chains. They told the representatives of thousands of people that the IOC had taken notice of Play Fair’s demands, but could not make any promises.
Play Fair 2008 feels that after five years of campaigning the IOC can no longer ignore the immense public outcry for a change. We feel the IOC falls short of its own Olympic Truce: “Building a peaceful and better world through sports and the Olympic ideal.” Play Fair 2008 is thoroughly disappointed with the IOC’s unwillingness to take action and will continue to put pressure on the Olympic movement to respect worker’s rights.
The Olympics, a billion dollar businessThe Olympic ideal is in fact a billion dollar business. The IOC has some 11 international sponsors who reportedly paid them almost US$866 million in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.
It is estimated that the sales of Beijing Games mascots alone, will bring in more than US$300 million in profit, almost 35% more than the profit from the whole Los Angeles Olympics.
According to reports a German sporting goods manufacturer paid almost US$100 million, in cash and in extras like uniforms, just to get its sponsorship deal for the Beijing Olympics.
Big profits made possible by exploitation of the workers who produce the Olympic-branded merchandise is surely against the true spirit of the Olympics?
Help the sportswear industry respect worker’s rightsThe exploitation of workers in Olympic supply chains doesn’t end with the start of the Games. Sportswear companies are willing to pay many millions in sponsorship deals to connect their brand to the Olympic brand – not just through sponsorship of the Olympic Games, but also of Olympic teams and Olympic athletes. That is why Play Fair 2008 isn’t just focusing on the Olympic movement to take action, but also on the global sportswear industry, to urge them to take responsibility to ensure respect for the rights of the women and men in their supply chains. It is not uncommon for workers in the sportswear sector to earn poverty wages, work long hours and face harsh repression should they attempt to organize to demand improvements. We invite you to join us in the ongoing Play Fair initiative to put pressure on some of the leading sportswear and sports shoe brands to improve conditions where their products are made HERE!
To learn more about worker’s rights violations in Olympic supply chains and the sportswear industry and find out how you can help, please visit playfair2008.org.
