ACTION PACK SWEAT-FREE OLYMPICS Light the flame for a. Credit Will Baxter

Transcription

1 ACTION PACK Light the flame for a SWEAT-FREE OLYMPICS 2012 Credit Will Baxter

2 Contents Credit Will B LIGHT THE FLAME FOR WORKERS HUMAN RIGHTS 1 Introduction 2 Where to find torch relay dates/locations 3 What s the message? 4 Who s the campaign target and why? 5 What you can do to raise awareness and make a difference 6 Action to the International Olympic Committee 7 Get it in the papers 8 Send us your snaps 9 Template press release 10 Background information: What s the Playfair 2012 campaign? Why do we need Playfair 2012? Campaign progress and challenges About us 11 Action petition 12 Resources 1 INTRODUCTION The Olympic torch relay and the symbolism of the Olympic torch, respect, excellence and friendship, provide a fantastic opportunity for us to demand an end to the exploitation of workers involved in delivering the Olympic Games. The Playfair 2012 campaign needs your activism to help make this happen. Standing together, we can demand a fair Games that puts respect for workers human rights at its heart. Despite the Olympics being a multi-million pound industry, from the London 2012 to Beijing 2008 to Athens 2004 Games, evidence shows that workers making Olympic branded goods and sportswear in global supply chains are exploited paid poverty wages for working excessively long hours in unsafe conditions, often on short-term contracts, and with no trade union to turn to when their rights are violated. Playfair 2012 is calling on the head of the Olympic family, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to take responsibility for ending this exploitation and to take action to ensure that workers rights are respected and in line with international standards. This activist guide is packed with ideas and inspiration for campaign actions, messaging, and how to get media coverage, but don t feel restricted by these ideas, we encourage you to be creative.

3 Consumers may feel the Olympic mascots are fun and cute, they will never think of the hard work, low wages..we have in the factory. Zhang, factory worker making London 2012 mascots Mandeville & Wenlock in China (Play Fair, 2012) 2 TORCH RELAY DATES: 19 MAY - 27 JULY 2012 Locations: The torch passes through the South West, Wales, West Midlands, North West, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Yorkshire and Humberside, East Midlands, East of England and the South East. Find out when the torch is coming your way: What is a global supply chain? What s a global supply chain? A system of production in which clothing, food, toys, souvenirs and many other items pass through a long line of factories, suppliers, buyers and warehouses before ending up on our high streets or supermarket aisles. These supply chains employ millions of workers and stretch all over the globe from China to Kenya, Bangladesh to Manchester. Credit Will Baxter

4 Olympic Movement light the flame for a sweat-free Games! 3 Light the flame for workers human rights! WHAT S THE KEY MESSAGE? Workers human rights before Olympic profits! Or you can create something along these lines... WHO S THE CAMPAIGN TARGET? 4 The message is aimed at the head of the Olympic family the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC owns the copyright for the Olympic symbols and so has the power to require that all Olympic branded goods are made in conditions where workers rights are respected. Likewise it can require in-country Olympic Associations and National Organising Committees to include respect for internationally recognised labour standards in their contracts with companies. To give you an example of how poor the IOC is on respecting workers human rights: nowhere does it state explicitly that child labour should not be used in the production of Olympic-branded goods. This needs to change... GET AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN TO SIGN THE PETITION AND TWEET ABOUT ENDING OLYMPIC EXPLOITATION! Credit Will Baxter

5 WHAT CAN YOU DO TO RAISE AWARENESS AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE? 5 Get active together locally! You can use the idea of not playing by the rules to illustrate how the Olympic Movement is not playing by the rules on respecting workers rights: REMEBER TO... include the theme of respecting workers human rights in anything you organise and encourage as many people as possible to sign the petition to the IOC and to tweet about ending exploitation in Olympic supply chains. Organise an Olympic Games in your local park and award medals to the most outrageous cheats. Re-write the rules for some Olympic sporting events and hold an Unfair Games. Run a relay with a flame for workers rights in your local highstreet/park/sports facilities. Organise a cycle relay with a flame for a sweat-free Games. Put on an alternative Big Exploiters award ceremony. Set up a course with workers rights flames and see who wins the record for the fastest hockey dribbling, football, skating Make a giant torch collage or banner with messages from your community to the IOC. Make a collection of torches and messages from recycled materials. Hold a fashion show with an alternative commentary about the exploitative working conditions experienced by workers making sportswear for the big brands. Raise the bar for workers rights : organise a flame-themed limbo in the park starting low then raising the workers rights bar. 6 ACTION TO THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE The Playfair 2012 campaign and international Play Fair campaign are running a petition calling on the International Olympic Committee to: Include the principle of respect for workers rights in the Olympic Charter and Code of Ethics. Build on the system developed by the London 2012 organisers that allows workers and their unions to complain if rights are violated, and oversee this independent process. Require that for all participating countries, National Olympic Committees include respect for internationally recognised labour standards in their contracts with companies supplying goods and services. Commit to working with the organisers of London 2012 and Rio 2016 so that the progress made in London can be built on for all future Games. Please get as many people as you can to sign the petition and tweet about ending Olympic exploitation

6 To follow shortly 7 8 GET IT IN THE PAPERS SEND US YOUR SNAPS The Playfair 2012 campaign will upload photos of your campaigning actions taking place around the country. Please send in your snaps to playfair2012@tuc.org.uk these will be posted on the Playfair 2012 website www. playfair2012.org You could also tweet your playfair2012 or post on our face book page: 9 TEMPLATE PRESS RELEASE To follow shortly

7 10 BACKGROUND INFORMATION What is the Playfair 2012 Campaign? The Playfair 2012 campaign calls on the sportswear industry and Olympic Movement to raise the bar on workers rights. We want them to ensure that the rights of workers making sportswear and Olympic branded goods are respected and in line with standards set out in International Labour Organisation Conventions and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Why do we need Playfair 2012? The Olympic Movement states that it aims to build a better world through sport and talks about respect, equality and fair play. But the reality for workers making Olympic branded goods, sportswear, kits and the uniforms for the Games is a far cry from these ideals and values. Evidence from the Olympics in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and now London 2012 shows that workers making Olympic branded goods continue to be exploited. The latest Play Fair campaign reports, Toying with Workers Rights and Fair Games? Human rights of workers in Olympic 2012 supplier factories, tell of poverty pay and exploitative working conditions in 10 factories producing the London 2012 Olympic mascots, pin badges, sportswear including adidas-london 2012 goods, and uniforms for 2012 officials in China, the Philippines and Sri Lanka: Poverty wages were found across the board. In Sri Lanka, some workers have to survive on around 1.80 a day, little above the official UN global poverty line. In the Philippines, 50% of workers interviewed said they were forced to pawn their ATM cards to loan sharks for pay day loans to get through the month. And in China, workers making the Olympic mascots were not paid the legal minimum wage in cases. Excessive working hours were the norm and many workers said doing overtime is not voluntary. Workers making Adidas goods had to work hours overtime a month even in low season. And workers making the Olympic mascots in China worked 140 hours overtime a month, yet the legal limit is 36 hours. Children were found making London 2012 pin badges in China; Workers had to use unlabeled toxic chemicals in the production of the pin badges and were given no health and safety training. In no factory investigated was there a recognised union or credible workers representatives, meaning workers had no voice on their pay and working conditions; many workers had legal benefits, such as pension and medical insurance contributions denied to them by repeated use of short term contracts. Living conditions were poor. Chinese workers shared cramped, over-crowded rooms in factory-owned dormitories, and in cases hot water was only available after when their shift finished. No worker should be exploited in the name of the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee needs to do much more to live up to the Olympic values of respect, equality and fair play.

8 Credit Will Baxter An adidas worker producing 2012 goods in Cambodia, paid 39 a month We are forced to take overtime work so at least it supplements our take-home pay. Otherwise, how can I survive with such meagre income, how can I pay rent for the small room where I stay, cope with my daily necessities, and send some money for my family in the province? At the end of the day it is zero balance; there are no savings left for whatever uncertain things may happen to me and my family. A worker at an adidas Olympics supplier factory in the Philippines, working on minimum wage for 10 years without a pay-rise. CAMPAIGN PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has been in dialogue with the Playfair 2012 Campaign since As a result, LOCOG included in its Sustainable Sourcing Code and contracts with licensees/suppliers, compliance with labour standards set out in the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code. This includes payment of a living wage, no discrimination and no use of child labour and is based on internationally recognised labour standards. In addition, LOCOG developed a complaints mechanism enabling workers in their global supply chains to report any violations of their rights. Since the publication of Toying with workers rights, LOCOG engaged with Playfair 2012 and took further steps to protect the rights of workers in its supply chains: Publishing the names and locations of factories in China and the UK covering 72 per cent of production for London 2012 Making information about employment rights, based on national laws and the ETI code available in Chinese and English, and establishing a Chinese language hotline so that workers can complain if their rights are violated. Providing training to some of the workers in their supply chains to make them more aware of their rights and how to claim these. Committing to work with Playfair 2012, the organisers of Rio 2016 and the International Olympic Committee to ensure that future Games benefit from lessons learned in London. Playfair 2012 is now working with LOCOG to ensure that these commitments are put into practice. LOCOG has gone further than any other Games organiser in taking steps to protect the rights of workers in its supply chains, but as the Play Fair reports show, LOCOG did not go far enough. LOCOG s efforts were limited by not informing workers about their rights and how to use the complaints mechanism in local languages early on. And the organisers relied on audits, renowned for not revealing the reality of working conditions, instead of working with trade unions and worker representatives to monitor and improve factory conditions. But the IOC also didn t give LOCOG a clear steer on these issues from the start. As London 2012 fast approaches and with preparations for Rio 2016 underway, Playfair 2012 is working closely with the Playfair Brazil Campaign. It s time for the IOC to show leadership and take responsibility for helping to end this cycle of exploitation in Olympic supply chains. The IOC must act to ensure that the human rights of workers making Olympic goods are respected. You can help us to make this happen.

9 Credit Will Baxter Credit Rod Leon The international Play Fair campaign has already had some impact, we are now negotiating with the major sportswear brands. So the ongoing support of fellow workers in the UK is vital fo us to continue making progress. Lilis Mahmuda, National Industrial Workers Union Federation, Indonesia (2010) ABOUT US The Playfair 2012 campaign is coordinated by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Labour Behind the Label and supported by: Anti-Slavery International, ATL, ASLEF, BECTU, Community, CSP, CWU, EIS, GMB, NASUWT, NUJ, NUS, NUT, PCS, People and Planet, Prospect, PFA, RCN London, STUC, UCATT, UNISON, Unite, Usdaw and War on Want. Through awareness raising with unions and students, and national campaigning activities, the Playfair 2012 aims to inspire supporters to play an active role in raising the bar on workers rights. Playfair 2012 is part of the international Play Fair campaign. For all major sporting events, whether it is the Olympics, World Cup or Commonwealth Games, Play Fair is campaigning to ensure that the human rights of workers are respected.

10 11 ACTION PETITION Dear Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee Light the flame for workers human rights The Olympics aims to build a better world through sport and promotes values of fair play, respect and equality. Yet workers making Olympic-branded goods for London 2012 and Beijing 2008 continue to be exploited. I call on the International Olympic Committee, as head of the Olympic family, to act immediately to end this exploitation and ensure that the human rights of all workers involved in delivering the Games are respected. Please ensure that the International Olympic Committee: Includes the principle of respect for workers rights in the Olympic Charter and Code of Ethics Builds on the system developed by the London 2012 organisers that allows workers and their unions to complain if rights are violated, and oversees this independent process Requires that for all participating countries, National Olympic Committees include respect for internationally recognised labour standards in their contracts with companies supplying goods and services Commits to working with the organisers of London 2012, Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 so that the progress made in London can be built on for all future Games. Publishing information about the locations of factories making Olympic-branded goods and the conditions that workers are employed in, will help me to know that the International Olympic Committee is doing everything in its power to protect the human rights of workers, in keeping with the Olympic values of fair play, respect and equality. Name Address Postcode Signature Please return completed petitions to Playfair 2012, Trades Union Congress, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS Action/petition closes 12 August 2012 (to coincide with the Olympic Games Closing Ceremony)

11 LIGHT THE 12 Resources You can order paper resources from the playfair2012.org.uk website which we can send to you, including flyers for handing out during actions. Below also is a list of other online resources to support your campaign. Playfair 2012 for games, quizzes, worker testimonies, latest actions, teaching materials, photo exhibition, background information and reports Labour Behind the Label FAIR GAMES? Human rights of workers in Olympic 2012 supplier factories Forced labour claims dent image of London 2012, The Independent on Sunday (May 2012) CAMPAIGNING FOR A SWEAT-FREE OLYMPICS 2012 Exposed: The reality behind London s ethical Olympics. Investigation reveals that the Adidas kit worn by Team GB athletes is made in abusive sweatshops, The Independent (April 2012) London 2012: Exploitation of factory workers prompts action (February 2012) Race to the bottom report War on Want (February 2012) The life of garment worker Mizra in India International Play Fair campaign Ethical Trading Initiative FLAME FOR WORKERS HUMAN RIGHTS Toying with Workers Rights A Report on Producing Merchandise for the London 2012 Olympic Games

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