Act Now
In a survey, carried out by the ILRF, of 7 soccerball sewing centres in Pakistan supplying to brands including Adidas, Umbro, and Nike, over 75% of workers were found to be on temporary contracts without benefits or social security. Child labour was still prevalent, and over half of the 200 workers interviewed were found to be earning under minimum wage. Gender discrimination was also found to be a major issue, where female home-based workers were being paid the least and faced the constant thread of losing their jobs due to pregnancy.
Yalda, a Pakistani soccer ball worker was interviewed. She stitches five balls per day at a piece rate of 40 PKR, and by working six days per week she can earn approximately 5000 to 5500 PKR (US$61-68) monthly. However, her income is not enough to cover basic household expenditure. Survival is difficult and education is a luxury. Among her four children, two boys and two twin girls, she is only able to pay for one boy’s tuition fee.
The report provides yet more evidence that low wages and other labour rights violations are still the norm and not the exception in the sportswear and merchandise industry.
Take Action
The Playfair 2012 campaign believes that it is time for sportswear torch bearers Adidas, Nike and Pentland to eliminate low pay, short term contracts, and child labour throughout their supply chains by taking the necessary steps to monitor informal work and train suppliers in fair employment practice. These brands must also make long term commitments to suppliers to ensure bad employment practice is not caused by erratic buying.
