Unions push sportswear industry to play fairly with its employees

Helsinki hosts the IAAF World Championships in Athletics

Helsinki (05.08.2005 - Juhani Artto) The working conditions in the global sportswear industry are by far from fair, the Chemical Workers' Union president Timo Vallittu reminds in the eve of the IAAF World Championship. The mega event takes place 6-14 August 2005 in Helsinki, the capital of Finland.

As an actual example, Vallittu points out that one of the event's seven major sponsors is the Japanese sportswear giant Mizuno. Last year its image suffered a setback as a report, published by the Clean Clothes Campaign, exposed the miserable working conditions at Mizuno's subcontractors in China.

This seems not to disturb the IAAF, as it promotes, at its web site, the idea of the sportswear enterprises being important members of the family: "Official Partners of the IAAF provide our sport with the means to develop and grow. They are an essential part of the world-wide family of athletics."

In late May, thousands of participants of a week-end third world solidarity meeting in Helsinki, were given data on working conditions of Mizuno's subcontractors' employees in China. The special attraction of the trade unions' stand was a dressmaker's dummy, wearing, from top to toe, Mizuno's sport's shoes and apparel, all produced in China.

In Autumn 2004, half a dozen of Finnish trade union organisations* created a network for bringing the Clean Clothes Campaign's issues also to the IAAF World Championship in Helsinki. This has mainly been done by being in touch with the event's organising committee. Vallittu gives credit to the committee's willingness to cooperate and readiness to request more data on origins of major sportswear brands' products.

The results of the cooperation have, however, remained modest. According to Vallittu, it has been difficult to get any detailed data. He emphasises that sportwear brands should monitor their subcontractors much more closely and be more open in sharing the information.

One of the main goals of the international trade union movement is to negotiate and sign, with leading sportswear enterprises, global agreements on working conditions, applicable also at their subcontractors' factories, Vallittu outlines.

Concerning the sportswear industry, Finland has also a domestic problem. The largest enterprise of the industry in Finland - Amer Group - is still marketing its products in Burma. Thus the enterprise despises openly the efforts to promote human rights in Burma, by isolating internationally its power élite.

*The most active orgaisations have been the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK, Trade Union Solidarity Center of Finland SASK, Service Union United PAM, Fiinnish Foodstuff Workers' Union, Union of Salaried Employees TU and the Chemical Workers' Union.

Read more:

• Sportswear industry data and company profiles, Clean Clothes Campaign, March 2004
• Openly defying ILO recommendations: Amer Group continues marketing sporting goods in Burma, 4.11.2002

This article was first published in English in Trade Union News in Finland.