St. Nicholas visits FIFA headquarters

St. Nicholas made a side trip to FIFA headquarters this year, stopping off at the Zurich office on December 5th (the day he traditionally visits Switzerland).

Old St. Nick, dressed in his usual red and white garb and accompanied by a donkey (as he always is in Switzerland) delivered a petition to FIFA President Sepp Blatter calling for FIFA to act in a more social responsibility manner. The petition, circulated by the Swiss Clean Clothes Campaign during the 2002 World Cup, was signed by more than 4,000 people. Demands included that FIFA adopt a more complete code of conduct and participate in a system to independently verify code compliance.

By coincidence Blatter arrived at the entrance hall just when St. Nick was ringing his bell outside. After taking a short look at the white-bearded saint, Blatter quickly disappeared into another room. Soon after, Markus Siegler head of FIFA Communications arrived to greet Saint Nicholas, but was not pleased to hear what the saint had to say about bad working conditions at factories producing for FIFA business partner adidas. Encouraging them to better deal with the issue of labor rights, the saint left the FIFA team with some fruits and nuts, and, instead of a switch (which is usually given to those who have behaved badly) a fair trade football for Blatter. In terms of taking action to demonstrate a commitment to socially-responsible business practices, the ball now is clearly on FIFA's side.

For more on this action, please see the Swiss CCC website http://www.cleanclothes.ch/d/presskit.htm