*Ø* Blogmanac | "Olympic spirit" under fire for exploitation

Sportswear industry violates the Olympics spirit
"Giant sportswear brands are violating the rights of millions of workers in order to get the latest sportswear into the shops in time for the Athens Olympics, according to anti poverty campaigners and trade unions.

"In a campaign – Play Fair at the Olympics – launched in the UK today Oxfam, Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Labour Behind the Label are calling on Puma and the British Olympic Association to clean up their act ..."
Source: Oxfam

Abolish Sweatshops

[One would have thought that the Olympic spirit of competition (= winning by beating other people) was very well suited to this sort of thing. Oxfam is probably being diplomatic in order to achieve results, and who can blame it? It's also worth noting that not only sports clothing, but sporting equipment, is a key player in the international sweatshops industry organised by rich-country transnational corporations.]

"About 83% of all garments sold in the U.S. are now made offshore, as are 80 percent of the toys, 90 percent of the sporting goods, 95 percent of the shoes. The people who make these items largely work in sweatshops for pennies an hour. The companies who commission the work, the famous brand names, buffer themselves from employing slaves and children by using brokers to contract out the work" ("Keeper of the Fire," Mother Jones, July/Aug. 2003).
Source