June 11, 2000

EURO 2000; BRITISH SUPPORTERS URGED TO STOP SWEATSHOP LABOUR

BYLINE: Brian Mcnally

THAI workers who produce Nike replica kits for Euro 2000 hosts Belgium and Holland are paid a paltry 35 pence an hour.

And now British football fans who fork out an average pounds 40-pounds 45 for replica tops are being urged to write to Kevin Keegan and his England squad in a campaign aimed at kicking cheap labour out of football.

Virtually all the leading kit manufacturers have stopped making the strips themselves and sub-contract from factories in Asia and Eastern Europe. Some of the factories then further sub-contract the work to smaller units, which campaigners claim are sweatshops which flout labour and minimum wage legislation.

Thailand's Par Garment Company, which supplies both adidas and Nike - major sponsors of Euro 2000 - is one of the suppliers criticised by British-based pressure group Labour Behind The Label.

Suthasini Kwaeleklai, who was dismissed by Par for her trade union activities, was in Holland last week to publicise the workers' plight.

She said: "The Thai minimum wage is virtually the average wage. Workers are paid pounds 2.80 for an eight-hour day and work six days a week.

"A Par worker would have to work around 112 hours to buy one of the football strips she makes.

"The only way to survive is to work overtime. At peak times the women work until midnight and on Sundays, which is their only day off."

Nike UK spokeswoman Yvonne Iwaniuk said her company had improved its labour record, but insisted that company chiefs in the USA would investigate the claims about Par Garments.

"Now we know this we will definitely go back and investigate this factory," promised Iwaniuk. "But we would strongly maintain, and many external critics would also acknowledge, that we have made great strides in this area.

"We have also tried to be transparent about the factories we use and have invited students - who have been some of our most vociferous critics in the States - to visit them."

No one from adidas was available for comment.

The Euro 2000 protest cards will ask the FA to ensure that England's kit suppliers, Umbro, fully commit themselves to FIFA's Code of Conduct aimed at protecting low-paid garment workers.

Already some progress has been made, with the FA indicating that they will introduce their own Code of Conduct when they negotiate a new kit deal next year.

Umbro, who ceased UK kit production last year, withdrew their contract from a Bulgarian factory where the female workers were locked in to prevent them taking breaks and forced to work up to 80 hours a week. They now claim: "Umbro complies with each manufacturing country's local labour laws."

Football Supporters' Association leader Alison Pilling said: "Fans in this country who buy the strips are being ripped off. Workers abroad are being paid a pittance.

"We want to see the companies forced to adhere to the FIFA Code of Conduct. We want the workers to get a decent wage and supporters to be offered fairer prices."