Tuesday, May 19, 2015

World Cup sponsors urged to bail over 'horrific' treatment of workers in Qatar...

Advocates for workers' rights are urging FIFA sponsors to take more responsibility for the treatment of World Cup workers in Qatar, calling the "horrific" working conditions there a blot on any company's brand.

At a press conference Monday, they singled out FIFA sponsors such as McDonalds, Visa, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Budweiser, Gazprom, KIA and Hyundai, saying they have the power to pressure both FIFA and Qatar into improving the treatment of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers.

Qatar, which FIFA chose to host the 2022 World Cup, has limited sports facilities and is in the middle of a major construction boom.

Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, said 1.4 million migrant workers are laboring in Qatar and that number will soon swell to 2.4 million as Qatar builds a deep water port.

Burrow said migrants are packed "8-10-12" to a room, work in 50 degree Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) temperatures and are unable to leave abusive employers.

"Sponsors know that Qatar is a slave state," she said. "This is the richest country in the world and they don't have to work this way ... fans don't want the game to be shamed this way." Full story...

Related posts:
  1. A migrant worker's journey ends with a coffin, and mourning...
  2. A Nepalese World Cup worker dies every other day in Qatar...
  3. Nepal workers pay terrible price in Qatar World Cup build-up...
  4. Qatar's deadly World Cup...
  5. North Koreans working as ‘state-sponsored slaves’ in Qatar...
  6. Qatar World Cup: migrants wait a year to be paid for building offices...
  7. The Nepalis dying on Qatar's World Cup building sites...
  8. Why is India ignoring the 'body bags' from Qatar?

No comments:

Post a Comment