Brussels, 29/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - Following the adoption by the European Parliament last Thursday of an emergency resolution on respecting fundamental labour standards in the production of sporting equipment for the Olympic Games (see EUROPE of 27 April, p.6), the General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), Guy Ryder, welcomed the EP's position which, he believes, provides undeniable support for the "Play Fair at the Olympics" campaign and proves that Europeans do indeed pay heed to the concerns expressed by workers and consumers.
Launched on 4 March 2004 by a trade union movement including Global Unions (of which the ICFTU is a member), Oxfam and the Clean Clothes Campaign network, the "Play Fair at the Olympics" campaign calls on the International Olympics Committee (IOC) to bring into question the abusive work practices of sponsors and Olympic Games licence holders and to assume its responsibilities. The ICFTU explains in a press release that the world sports clothing industry must change its purchasing methods and give as much importance to labour standards as to cost, delays and even quality. This, ICFTU says, involves the right for workers in the sports industry to form trade unions and to join these unions, the right to collective negotiation, being two fundamental workers' rights, two rights that are often flouted.
The adoption of the EP's emergency resolution coincided with the holding, on 21 and 22 April in Brussels, of an international forum which brings together representatives of NGOs, trade unions and the business world to discuss how to make producers of sports articles more responsible in their behaviour towards workers' issues, and the impact of the social responsibility of companies on labour conditions. The role of the trade unions and the NGOs for making working methods change was stressed by representatives of the sports sector and the Olympic movement.