Activists have chosen to target Foot Locker as it is Britain’s largest retailer of Adidas footwear, with actions set to take place at stores in towns and cities across the UK, including London, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Newcastle.
Campaigners are calling on Foot Locker to sever ties with Adidas, until the company agrees to pay its former Indonesian workers the money to which they are legally entitled.
The UK protests are being co-ordinated by student activists People & Planet, workers’ rights campaigners Labour Behind the Label and the anti-poverty charity War on Want, as part of an international day of action, with protests also taking place in the US and mainland Europe.
In April 2011, 2,800 workers lost their jobs when the PT Kizone factory closed in Indonesia, leaving the workers without £2.2 million ($3.4 million) in legally-owed redundancy pay.
All the companies that sourced from the factory have since paid their share of the money - except Adidas. which has refused to give the Indonesian workers the remaining (£1.1 million) ($1.8 million) [2].
The former PT Kizone workers are now struggling to feed their families, pay their rent and send their children to school [3].
Campaigners say Adidas could pay former workers the money owed for just a fraction of the £100 million spent on sponsoring the Olympics[4].
Matt Franklin, from People & Planet Birmingham, said: “Despite claiming to value integrity and community, Foot Locker is pushing products for Adidas, a company currently under fire for labour rights abuses.
“Adidas is happy to spend £100 million sponsoring the Olympics. Yet the company refuses to contribute a fraction of this amount to its former Indonesian workers.
“In line with its community rhetoric, we are calling on Foot Locker to sever ties with Adidas, until the company resolves the issue of unpaid redundancy among workers who made their products.”
In a letter sent to Adidas last year, PT Kizone workers jointly stated: “We earned this severance and we can assure you that our families need it.
“Our children are hungry. But food vouchers will not keep our children in school or our families in our homes. We call on Adidas to ensure we receive all the money we are legally owed and that we earned making Adidas products…” [5]
Ten universities in the US have now cut contracts with Adidas as part of the global campaign.
This represents a loss of around £654,000 ($1 million) in annual revenue for the company, according to US campaigning group United Students Against Sweatshops [6].
Murray Worthy, from War on Want, said: “Foot Locker is a massive retailer for Adidas and must use its influence to force it to pay these workers.
“Adidas has made huge profits from these people’s years of work. Yet now they are abandoning them to poverty. We will keep up the pressure until the workers get what they are owed.”
[1] See Clean Clothes Campaign link http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent-actions/background-on-pt-kizone-indonesia
[2] See Labour Behind the Label link http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/urgent-actions/itemlist/category/272-ptkizone
[3] See http://www.waronwant.org/news/392-olympics/17545-ex-adidas-workers-in-indonesia-still-owed-18-million
[4] More on the Adidas Olympics sponsorship at http://www.waronwant.org/olympics-inform
[5] Full letter to Adidas: http://usas.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/06/Kizone_to_Adidas_June2012.pdf
[6] More on US universities cutting ties with Adidas
http://usas.org
http://www.usatodayeducate.com/staging/index.php/sports/colleges-cut-ties-with-adidas-amid-labor-violations
Paul Collins / Media officer / War on Want / (+44) (0)20 7324 5054 / (+44) (0)7983 550728
pcollins@waronwant.org / paul.collins93@yahoo.com
Source waronwant.org
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire