Irish Olympic athletes, sportspeople and parents buying children's runners have been urged to back an international campaign aimed at stopping abuse of workers in the sportswear industry.
Factories in developing countries are "breaking all the rules" to meet the unreasonable demands of massive sports' corporations. These companies will reap particularly large profits during this Olympic year, Ms Kanjai Kaewchoo, president of the Thai Textile Garment and Leather Workers' Federation, told the ICTU women's conference in Galway yesterday.
Speaking through an interpreter, Ms Kaewchoo said that more than a million women in Thailand were employed in the sportswear industry, and many are paid six cents a piece. Employees were regularly paid $3 a day to make $93 runners, and could be forced to work up to 45 extra hours a week - at the risk of losing their jobs.
Apart from poor pay, sportswear manufacturing staff encountered backache and eye strain, while access to trade union membership was denied, she said.
The Olympic Council of Ireland has been urged to back the campaign, "Play Fair at the Olympics", supported by ICTU, SIPTU and Oxfam Ireland. The website is www.fairolympics.org
