The government of Pakistan is launching a program to transform the region of Sialkot, the world’s largest center for the production of footballs, into a modern industrial park offering improved working conditions and eliminating child labor. The government will assist the local industry to invest in new technologies and product innovation to create an economically viable alternative to the present mixed system of factory and home-based manufacturing.
The program is described as a further step in an effort that began ten years ago at the Atlanta Super Show under the auspices of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI), which has resulted in a reduction in the number of reported child labor violations to 96 last year as compared to 10,000 prior to the so-called Atlanta accord. The new initiative follows on Nike’s clamorous termination of an OEM deal with Saga International because it had repeatedly failed to meet its own corporate social responsibility standards.
Justified mainly by the violation of conditions for minimum wages and freedom of association, Nike has decided to stop contracting out the production of about 100,000 balls per month at Saga, a Pakistani company which employs some 7,000 people, resulting in many potential layoffs. Mark Parker, chief executive of Nike, discussed the issue with Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at the most recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Representatives of Adidas, New Balance, Nike and Puma joined officials of WFSGI, FIFA and the International Labor Organization in talks with Pakistani government officials in Islamabad, leading to a joint declaration on the subject last Feb. 22.
As a result, the Pakistani government has pledged to support the development of a technical center in Sialkot to centralize the jobs of an estimated 4,000 different sewing centers and innumerable home-based workers in the region. The system will allow better international monitoring of working conditions for the manufacture of unbranded and promotional balls, whose stitching is usually farmed out to families. The major brands are already requiring that all the production of their balls should take place at industrial sites that can be monitored for ethical labor standards.
Furthermore, in an effort to create a level playing field in the Asian ball manufacturing industry, the World Federation and other international lobbies have agreed to put pressure on Chinese authorities to recognize basic workers’ rights of free association ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Last Feb. 27 WFSGI publicly expressed support for a new draft Labor Contract Law proposed by the Chinese government that goes in this direction.
