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21 April, 2008
With the Olympic Games just months away, the ICEM is calling for trade union affiliates and members alike to take a short couple of minutes to "Catch the Flame," a call for respect of workers' rights in the production of Olympic-licensed products. They can do so by joining am electronic relay on a global labour-created website.
The International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) Play Fair 2008 campaign launched "Catch the Flame," an electronic relay race intended to bring public attention to the need to stamp out abuses of labour standards in workplaces making Olympics goods. You can send a clear message on this by clicking here to ensure that Olympic competition is really fair, meaning fair for those who produce Olympic goods.
Play Fair 2008 has been in contact with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is holding this year’s Games in China. Play Fair has uncovered gross violations of workers’ rights in four Chinese factories in which products under license to the IOC have been made for the 2008 Games. You can read or download the report by clicking here.
“While discussions with the IOC were constructive and we remain hopeful that the world’s peak sporting body is prepared to take concrete action to end maltreatment of workers who make the products,” said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder, “there has been little if any actual progress, and this new initiative gives people the chance to join in the call for action.”
ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder
With a wave of Bluetooth, sms, and e-mail messages, “Catch the Flame” participants forward the campaign’s version of the Olympic torch to Beijing. The “Catch the Flame” website allows visitors to record their support for Fair Play’s campaign objectives.