Send a message to the brands
Just prior to the Beijing Summer Olympic Games in 2008, we asked sportswear brands to take action on a series of proposals to overcome four key hurdles facing workers in the sportswear industry, and we set out real targets we asked them to meet. After all, if sportswear companies can set specific, measurable targets for performance on production, sales and other financial goals, why can’t they set targets for worker rights?
If sportswear companies are serious about improving conditions in the factories manufacturing their products, shouldn’t we have some way of charting success in real terms?
Sadly, very few of those targets will have been met by the time the Vancouver Winter Olympics begin in February 2010. Sportswear companies need to know that we are keeping score, and that as far as we can tell they’re a long, long way from the finish line.
Send an e-mail today to adidas, Asics, Lotto, Mizuno, New Balance, Nike, Pentland, and Puma asking them to take action now to
- develop a positive climate for freedom of association and collective bargaining;
- Eliminate the use of precarious employment in sportswear supply chains;
- Lessen both the frequency and negative impacts of factory closures; and
- Take steps to improve worker incomes, with the goal of reaching a living wage for all workers.
Tell them you’ve seen their responses on this site and you find them lacking. Tell them it’s time to up their game and start clearing the hurdles for workers’ rights.
Take Action