There is no such thing as an ideal factory. But we are checking our subcontractors, and we do react when things appear to be wrong. Sometimes, their reports are right, sometimes not. Nevertheless, in the four Dutch cities hosting Euro 2000 matches, the Dutch federation of trade unions FNV is distributing some 300,000 posters reminding football fans of the plight of sweatshop workers. The Dutch CCC has also opened an account to which Dutch people are asked to transfer the symbolic amount of one euro as an incentive for the big companies to start to ensure that the workers of their subcontractors receive better wages.
Officials are afraid of making the sponsors angry.
As long as the Dutch team keeps playing well, it will prove difficult to get media exposure, De Haan believes. The rights of Indonesian, Vietnamese or Bulgarian workers sewing football shirts or stitching shoes is dwindling. We'd better lose soon. But that is not what I should be saying. On June 3, the Belgian activists handed over 50,000 pictures of Belgians asking for better wages in the sportswear industry to the representatives of Adidas at their headquarters in the German town of Herzogenaurach.