by James Parks, Apr 25, 2011
For the first time in history, the world’s two biggest sports events—the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics—are being held in the same country, within two years of each other. This month, hundreds of workers and activists met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, site of the events, to launch a campaign to ensure that all the workers involved in the construction of facilities and manufacturing of event products work under decent conditions.
The global Play Fair campaign includes several international trade union groups, such as the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Global Union Federation for the Textiles, Leather and Garment industry (ITGLWF), the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), and other groups, such as the Clean Clothes Campaign.
“It is paramount that the principles of the decent work agenda are applied during the works for the World Cup and Summer Olympics in Brazil,” said ITUC Deputy President Nair Goulart.
The construction works are already under way—such as the infrastructure projects—and the workers are already demanding better health and safety conditions as well as decent wages. This campaign is important to raise awareness in regards to the respect of the decent work agenda. Moreover, we should make sure a collective agreement can be reached at the national level in respect to the minimum standards of the ILO [International Labor Organization].
Representatives of the British Trade Union Council (TUC) said they developed strategies to keep the 2012 Olympics in London free of sweatshop labor. Said TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber.:
We have worked together, for instance, on a complaints mechanism covering supply chains. It is hard to establish world class labor standards in a world where exploitation is rife, but we hope that London 2012 represents a big step forward and that our Brazilian colleagues benefit from and build on our experience.
You can follow the campaign on the Decent Work Towards and Beyond World Cup 2014 web site.
