Playfair, the NGO campaigning for workers’ rights for all suppliers to the London 2012 Olympics, has singled out adidas for refusing to pay $1.8 million to workers at an Indonesian factory.
In an article published on the Playfair website yesterday, the NGO dissects three arguments against worker compensation given by the sportswear manufacturer, and dismisses all three.
On May 14, 2011, Europe’s eyes absent-mindedly flickered over to the annual singing contest known as Eurovision, where each nation’s breed of bland and bawdy pop numbers were churned out, one excruciating song at a time. By the end of the night, anyone still paying attention to the show learnt where in the world Azerbaijan is as ‘Running Scared‘ was crowned best song.
As an avid follower of global environmental and social justice issues, I must confess to harbouring an odd, perverse regret: I have not yet visited the site of an environmental disaster. Bhopal in India, Chernobyl in Ukraine, Prince Sound in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico – I regrettably haven’t experienced the after-life of these disaster zones. Perhaps one day I’ll indulge my macabre fantasy; stand in Chernobyl’s haunted ghost town (now open to tourism) and experience the ghostly chill of horrific atomic death. But if I want a living, day-to-day embodiment of industrial incompetence and pollution, one needn’t look further than the town of Dalian, in North-East China.
Dalian’s economic story is, on the surface, positive. It is strategically located, straddling Bohai Bay and the infamously-polluted Yellow Sea. It is a regional shipping hub and blessed by the PRC with various special economic/development zones, some which suspend most China-wide limits to foreign investment. The town’s economy grew a staggering 15% in 2010. The World Economic Forum’s regional meetings take place in the backdrop of this manufacturing hub and port town; the meetings are dubbed ‘Annual Meeting of the New Champions’.
Vodafone, the world’s largest telecommunications company by revenue, is facing a public relations headache in the UK as protestors press the company on its non-payment of corporate taxes. However, a more sinister story is brewing concerning its collusion with North African states stifling political protests.
Amnesty International issued a warning yesterday to Indian officials, declaring that the recent approval given to South Korean steel giant POSCO for a steel plant in Orissa will render 2,000 Indian farmers jobless and forced off their lands.
