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11 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 22/1998
Oil multinational Total is to resume sales of World Cup '98 footballs bearing its logo, a spokeswoman told ICEM UPDATE this afternoon. She said the company had received "formal certification" that no child labour was involved in the production of the balls. The certification came from Lucerne-based ISL Marketing, which handles licensing deals for the World Cup. Total has therefore lifted its suspension of its supply contract with Dutch-based football manufacturer Smits Plastics.
French oilworkers' unions had raised the issue with Total after video footage was screened on French TV, apparently showing Pakistani children stitching World Cup soccer balls bearing the Total logo. Both Total and Smits say they have examined the footage from which the TV version was edited. They claim that the pictures screened on French TV were a "misleading montage".
This does not, of course, mean that child labour has been eliminated from Pakistan's football industry, which produces most of the world's stitched soccer balls. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, the textile workers' international ITGLWF and the commercial workers' FIET are holding further discussions with football's world governing body, FIFA, and the sporting goods industry concerning child labour and other labour rights issues in the sporting goods industry.
French oilworkers' unions had raised the issue with Total after video footage was screened on French TV, apparently showing Pakistani children stitching World Cup soccer balls bearing the Total logo. Both Total and Smits say they have examined the footage from which the TV version was edited. They claim that the pictures screened on French TV were a "misleading montage".
This does not, of course, mean that child labour has been eliminated from Pakistan's football industry, which produces most of the world's stitched soccer balls. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, the textile workers' international ITGLWF and the commercial workers' FIET are holding further discussions with football's world governing body, FIFA, and the sporting goods industry concerning child labour and other labour rights issues in the sporting goods industry.