A Background Paper

After all the negative publicity on child labour in the football industry, FIFA announced in 1996 that they had reached an agreement with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and its member federations ITGLWF and FIET on a Code of Labour Practice for the production of footballs and other products that are licensed by FIFA.

According to this agreement there shall be no use of child labour, forced or bonded and no discrimination in employment practices on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion etc. The workers have the right to form and join trade unions and to bargain collectively. In addition - and this is lacking in many other codes of conduct - fair wages should be paid which "should be sufficient to meet basic needs and provide some discretionary income". The code further stipulates that workers shall normally not be required to work more than 48 hours a week, that a safe and healthy working environment shall be provided and that employers should endeavour to provide regular and secure employment.

Licensee companies under this code "further agree to ensure that these conditions and standards are observed by each contractor and subcontractor". This is important because footballs (and many other products) are largely being produced through intermediary contractors and subcontractors, in homes and other small production units. In addition. FIFA and the international trade unions agreed on the necessity for effective monitoring. Furthermore they discussed the introduction of alternative education and training for children removed from the football producing industry.

Promises and Obligations

So already in 1996 the stage seemed to be set to seriously start working on the issue. This agreement was, however, never signed because of resistance from (members of) the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI). Instead the WFSGI started to support the child labour programmes in Pakistan and later in India. They also came up with a Model Code of Conduct for the industry which is, however, not binding for its members, but only a recommendation.

However, in 1998 the international trade union movement started negotiating with FIFA and its marketing and licensing organization, International Sports and Leisure (ISL), about including the original FIFA Code of Labour Practices in the contracts of FIFA/ISL with their licensees. The licensees are companies who use the logo or name of FIFA or one of their football events - like the 2002 World Football Championship - on their products.

As a result, since 1998 the following elements, among others, have been included in every contract between FIFA and sporting goods companies:

• provision of evidence that the manufacturer does not use child labour at any stage of the production process, including sub-contracting;
• the Model Code of Conduct of the WFSGI on labour conditions (see Annex);
• compulsory participation by manufacturers in the 'Sialkot Project' in Pakistan, the 'Jalandhar Project' in India or similar projects in other countries which provides monitoring of the manufacturing process by independent inspectors;
• a provision that FIFA/ISL may request evidence of compliance with the Code;
• a letter to be signed by the (exporting) manufacturers that they will comply with the contractual labour conditions.

In a letter of FIFA to the international trade unions, it was added in March 1999 that future licensing agreements will contain a reference to the 'ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work of June 18, 1998".

These very important principles and rights are:

1. freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
2. the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour;
3. the effective abolition of child labour; and
4. the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation

An important promise made by FIFA/ISL in 1998 was that not only the 'official World Cup footballs' are subject to the labour conditions in the FIFA contract, but also cheap or give-away 'premium balls' featuring the company's brand name and the name of the event (in this case the 2002 World Cup). The FIFA admitted in 2000 that there was a problem to make sure that these balls, which are often ordered at low costs by sponsors', were only sourced from official FIFA-licensees. In other words: it is not unlikely that these footballs are produced with child labour under less than decent working conditions.

The Reality

In late 1999 a report was published by the All Pakistan Federation of Labour (APFOL) which makes it clear that although progress has been made in tackling child labour in major stitching centres, children are still working for contractors producing footballs outside the main stitching centres. It is estimated that the Sialkot Project implemented by ILO-IPEC provided part-time education to 6,000 children against 15,000 children present in the industry. Abusive labour practices also continue to be widespread. The report further shows that the wages paid to adult workers are low, which is an important reason why children are still working. Furthermore, the report confirms widespread violations of the right to join and organize trade unions and the right to collective bargaining. This includes companies which are supplying products licensed by FIFA.

In June 2000 a report was published by the India Committee of the Netherlands in co-operation with the South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS) and its member organization Volunteers for Social Justice (VSJ) in Punjab about child and adult labour in the Indian football industry. This report concludes that there are still at least 10,000 children working in the football industry in India's Punjab. The Sports Goods Federation of India, an organization of the football manufacturers and exporters, has, however, started a child labour monitoring programme which is implemented by an independent auditing firm. Children who are found are to be enrolled in schools. Nevertheless, part of the exported football production in Punjab was still hidden from the inspection programme last year.

The report gives ample evidence that labour conditions which are part of the contracts between FIFA and the sporting goods companies are violated on a large scale. The wages are generally far below - in most cases even less than half - the official minimum wage, while the health, safety and sanitary provisions are grossly inadequate. Also the workers are absolutely dependent on contractors and have de facto no right to organize or bargain collectively.

It is incomprehensible that FIFA limits its programme of inspection in Pakistan and India to the issue of child labour, while other important contractual obligations on wages, health provisions and trade union rights are not monitored. These other obligations can be of great help for eradicating child labour and giving children a better chance in life, including a good education.

Follow-up

In a reaction to the Indian report FIFA wrote that 'this appears to be a comprehensive report' and 'we shall study the contents of the report and follow-up as we consider appropriate with our partners'. Now, almost a full year later, there is no word yet on this follow-up.

The Indian government on its part promised to set up about a hundred part-time schools, for fifty children each, in order to provide lower primary education to children who have been working full-time, especially children who have been producing footballs.

There are indications that the working conditions under which the very cheap Chinese sporting goods are produced are not in line with FIFA requirements. However, China has only recently become a member of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry. By the terms of the Model Code of Conduct of the WFSGI and the present FIFA contractual labour conditions, it is up to the companies who are sourcing products from China to provide evidence that these products are made in compliance with their contracts with FIFA.

Even though we have mainly referred in this background paper to the production of footballs, other sports garments, sports shoes, and merchandising products come under the FIFA contract for labour conditions. There is evidence that several companies have been producing FIFA-licensed goods, for example in Indonesia and China, under conditions that violate this contract as well.

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