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The 2010 FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup got underway in South Africa in June. This is the 19th time since the tournament has been held. It is the premier soccer tournament and it is safe to say that it now rivals the Summer Olympics in terms of the number of people who watch the games. Tens of millions of people watched individual games.
However, questions have been raised, over the years, about the pay and working conditions of those who work in the football-producing factories. Bob Crilly of the Irish Times discovered that the workers who produce footballs, which retail at €100, often receive only $3 per day. One informant told him that “People buying these balls should understand more about how they are made and insist that the workers are looked after and well paid.” One of the workers told Crilly that, “if they sack a person, there will be 10 queuing the next day for the job.” In recent years, pressure from international agencies has improved the lot of many of the workers, but much more needs to be done. A report by The International Labor Rights Forum found that half of the 218 workers surveyed do not earn €118 a month, which is the minimum amount of money a family would require to meet their basic needs. The ‘exciting ball game’ needs to address and solve this injustice as a matter of urgency.
Warning of a possible six to eight year employment and social protection crisis due to the economic downturn, International Labor Organization (ILO) Director-General Juan Somavia called on delegates to the 98th International Labor Conference to adopt a “Global Jobs Pact.” Somavia cited a range of dire economic challenges facing the world of work, ranging from rising unemployment and increasing poverty to stress on businesses, adding, “all of this put together means that the world may be looking at a job and social protection crisis of six- to eight-year duration.”
