Owen Tudor
As the Vancouver Winter Olympics come to an end, attention turns to the next Olympics – London 2012. And trade unionists around the world are turning their attention to the workers’ rights implications. The Maquiladora Solidarity Network worked closely with the Canadian Labour Congress to ensure that the workers who made the clothes associated with Vancouver 2010 were paid fair wages, worked reasonable hours and were protected from injury and disease. For London 2012, the TUC is working with a range of unions, Labour Behind the Label, Anti-Slavery International and War on Want under the banner of Playfair 2012: campaigning for a sweat-free Olympics. We want the multi-national corporations like Adidas, Nike and Pentland (makers of speedo) to guarantee workers’ rights in the supply chains for their sportswear.
Comment made by Diego on Feb 28th 2010 at 12:43 am:
the days of 16 p per hour are long gone for clothing manufacturing! If trade unions think that garment manufacturing is coming back to the first world nations, they are “drinking the Coolaid”. Also, the term “sweat-free” sounds like a “free-ride”. Stick to the using the term “sweatshop” when ranting about third world manufacturing and try to think of what work is to real people. Real people sweat when working in 1st, 2nd and 3rd world nations. There is nothing wrong with a fair days pay for a fair day’s “work”. All of the other nasty things you list make sense but forget about bringing these clothing jobs back home. We like our low-cost clothing too much!
Comment made by Owen Tudor on Feb 28th 2010 at 9:52 am:
Our campaign isn’t about returning jobs to the UK at all, it’s about making sure the jobs in developing countries involve decent terms and conditions.
We understand that there is a clear wage differential between developing countries and the developed. But we don’t see why workers in developing countries should be forced to undercut each other, or work for such a little percentage of the value of the product they make.
And, as I know you understand, we don’t see why their workplaces should be dangerous, their right top organise restricted, etc etc.