Child labour -- NGO fouls football units

Child labour -- NGO fouls football units
RAMANINDER K. BHATIA

LUDHIANA, JULY 15: ``Gandhi Camp, Batala (Gurdaspur district): According to our informant, at least 10 per cent of the population (in the locality) earns a living by stitching balls... We mainly see women and girls at work. A few girls tell us they are getting Rs 2 for half a ball. Working 12 hours a day, they make Rs 15 to Rs 20 each. Another girl is working for Globe Sports. The footballs she is stitching carry the tag: `No child labourer used'.

``The contractor sometimes give an advance payment of Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 tothe stitcher, who are in need of money. Then, the workers are paid less than the official rate per ball... The brands that we see being stitched in Batala are Eurostar, Eurosport, Mambo, Florida Beach and Globe Sports.'' -- Jai Singh and Gerard Oonk, November 1999.

``Sangal Sole Colony in Jalandhar: Several children in the age-group of 10 to 15 years are assembling footballs... Just after we've met him, a contractor rushes off to the next village to warn people about `unexpected guests'. Everywhere doors are being closed.'' -- Gerlad Oonk, November 1999.

THE excerpts are part of a damning report on child labour and working conditions in the sports-goods industry by the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), an independent NGO. Titled The Dark Side Of Football, it focuses on Jalandhar and Batala, the home of the football manufacturing industry.

The study was released by ICN co-ordinator Oonk at the inauguration of Euro 2000. In November last year, Oonk visited Punjab to study the industry and the findings of institutes such as the V.V. Giri National Labour institute, the Sports Goods Foundation of India and the Volunteers for Social Justice.

The report says that in Pakistan -- the world's largest exporter of footballs and other inflatable balls -- a programme to eliminatechild labour from the industry began in 1997. An SGFI-FIFA programme in India started on January 1, 2000.

The report wants the industry listed in the `Hazardous Occupation' category as children stitching footballs for long hours complain of joint pains and backaches. It says around 10,000 children are employed in Jalandhar alone, and the workers are paid far below the minimum wage prescribed.

It says these facts are denied by the SGFI and not checked as part of their internal monitoring. It is not externally monitored and verified by the SGS (Societe General de Surveillance), an auditing company. (See box).

On the football companies buying goods from the industry, the report says: ``The contractual agreements between the ISL (FIFA's licensing organisation) and all licenced football importing companies buying balls in India are violated as the firms hide child labour, pay wages below the official minimum, misuse advance payment to workers, and provide poor sanitary conditions.''

The report recommends further research to establish the character and magnitude of the health problems of the sports-goods workers and a health protection plan.

The ICN report could raising hackles of trade unionists and anti-imperialist groups. Earlier attempts by foreign groups to carry out surveys and get their recommendations implemented have been resisted by organisations such as the AITUC, which fought on behalf of the sports goods manufacturers and accused foreign groups of trying to close down exports. Even the Indian government has refused to accept the ``initiative'' by the SGFI, the EFSGI, Save the Children and ILO-IPEC to supervise the external monitoring of stitching locations.