The 2008 Olympic Games and the Violation of Labor Standards

As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is meeting today in London to discuss the next Olympic games, to be held in London in 2012, a global network of NGOs and unions called Play Fair 2008 published a report denouncing the systematic violation of basic labor standards in China, where the 2008 Olympic Games will be held.

The IOC imposes several strict conditions on the Beijing Games licensing but they do not include requirements to respect core labor standards. Reported violations of these standards include: Children as young as 12 years old working 15 hours a day, poor health and safety conditions, workers required to work 30 days per month, forced overtime, workers cheated of more than half their legal wages, workers being instructed to lie about wages and conditions to outside inspectors, and employers falsifying employment records. Insofar as Chinese workers do not have freedom of association, they lack any effective means to defend their rights. Hence the importance of global campaigns like PlayFair 2008.

The PlayFair 2008 campaign demands, among other things, that:

• The IOC…
  • requires that, as a contractual condition in its licensing, sponsorship and marketing agreements, labor practices and working conditions involved in Production of IOC branded products comply with internationally recognized labor standards;
  • commits resources to undertake proactive investigations of working condition;

• National Olympic Committees use their influence on companies operating in their country and national team sponsors to push for the campaign demands; and that they publicly disclose companies with which they have licensing, sponsorship and marketing agreements.

• Governments…
  • facilitate the right of workers to form and join independent trade unions and engage in collective bargaining by the immediate ratification (where they are not ratified) and full application of all relevant ILO conventions;
  • implement policies that promote socially responsible behavior in international business activity;
  • promote respect for workers’ rights in international and bilateral treaties and trade agreements;

• Corporations…
  • adopt sourcing policies that require suppliers and their sub-contractors to
    respect internationally recognized labor standard;
  • inform the public about the working conditions in which the products that
    they market are made and be fully transparent with respect to all business
    operations and arrangements affecting labour practices and working
    conditions.
  • disclose the identity, location and country details of all their supplier factories.

A demand that may appear secondary but can actually play a crucial role is the training and funding of labor inspectors to undertake proactive investigations of working condition. This is crucial because corporations have been developing all sorts of tactics to pass inspections without changing their core practices, as Business Week magazine reported last fall.

Some may object that implementing these demands, supposing that the political conditions were met, would be too expensive. In this respect, it is worth pointing out that, according to PlayFair 2008, “Beijing Games licensing is expected to generate some US$70million in income to the Olympics–40% more than for the 2000 Sydney Games.” Moreover, a similar campaign was carried out in 1998 for the soccer World Cup in France and it was successful.

The 2008 Olympic Games will be an extraordinary window onto China. It would be a pity not to try to use it to support democratic and social gains.

Did Sarkozy Get Drunk with Putin?

Here’s a funny video of French President Sarkozy at a press conference in Germany, after a meeting with Russian President Putin, during the G8. Apparently, Sarkozy was drunk.