
Issue No 35		15 October 1999

Sport

World Cup Rugby Balls - Child Labour Scandal

The International Labour Organisation is being urged to investigate allegations of the use of child labour in the manufacture of rugby balls for the Rugby World Cup.

The call has come from the international trade union organisation FIET - which also wants the Rugby World Cup Executive to discuss the issue at its meeting in Dublin this week.

Geneva based FIET - along with two other international union groupings -wants the World Cup authorities to sign up to a six page Code of Practice which outlaws child labour and insists on human rights for workers who make official merchandise.

The manufacturer of the rugby balls - Gilbert - is reported as denying newspaper allegations that child labour was used in the stitching of the balls in India.

"We're not talking about the balls that end up on the pitch, we are talking about the thousands of balls being sold to the fans as official merchandise," said FIET General Secretary Philip Jennings.

"This is big business and we believe the rugby authorities have a responsibility to ensure that all official merchandise is produced under conditions which conform to the standards laid down by the ILO.

"There have been conflicting accounts and we believe the ILO itself can best establish the facts through their local office in India.

"If there is no problem in India with these balls then nobody will be happier than FIET. It should then be a simple matter for the authorities to sign up to a Code of Practice and ensure that suppliers monitor their sub-contractors."

FIET, along with International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation, have made a new approach to the International Rugby Board and Rugby World Cup Ltd.

They have offered dates for a meeting on the issue and to help in setting up a verification programme to ensure that agreements outlawing exploitation are enforced down the production chain.

"If this has happened with the manufacturing of rugby balls, then similar scenarios could be envisaged in the manufacturing of shirts, shorts, boots and other apparel used during the World Cup matches," says the letter from the three organisations.

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Issue 35 contents

Interview: Strategic Responses
NSW Police Association president Mark Burgess has worked in the coal mines and the waterfront - now he�s the public face of NSW police

Republic: Negative Campaigning
If the Republic fails, one of the main complaints which should be leveled against the ARM is its refusal to play dirty.

Unions: Interpreter smooths the way for Kosovar Refugees
�The people really appreciate what Australia has done for them but they still want to go home," said Ariana Biba, a HREA member who has been worked recently as an interpreter assisting newly arrived refugees from Kosovo.

Education: Count Yorga's Evil Plot
NTEU president Carolyn Allport looks at Kemp's brazen attack on univestities and warns the battle is not won yet.

Safety: Death in the Snowy
Beyond the engineering achievements of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, there is the tragic story of those workers killed or seriously injured in the construction of the project.

International: Why Is the WTO So Anti-Labour?
Driving the cost of labour down appears to be the main priority of the World Trade Organisation

History: The Importance of Tradition
Historical documents bring us into closer contact with the past and its concerns as this 1945 extract from the NSW Nurses Association journal, The Lamp, shows.

Review: McLibel - The Mice That Roared
This documentary is the classic tale of the little guys against the system, a battle for the right to dissent.

Satire: Government Privatises Numbers
Prime Minister John Howard released a new policy on numerals yesterday, to bring them in in line with the Liberal Party's plan to privatise �Pretty much everything before we lose office.�

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