ITUC Announces Top Five Countries To Sign Up To Qatar World

International Trade Union Confederation

ITUC Announces Top Five Countries To Sign Up To Qatar World Cup Workers Rights Campaign

http://act.equaltimes.org/en/fillastadium

Target of 20,000 campaign “fans” to fill virtual football stadium

Brussels, 25 October 2012 (ITUC OnLine): Nearly 1,000 fans from over 100 countries have joined the global campaign “Qatar: Do the right thing. No World Cup without workers’ rights” in just four weeks.

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said “Qatar still intends to build the 2022 World Cup on modern slavery of migrant workers. The government doesn’t seem to care about the slew of media reports on how workers are paying with their lives and livelihoods in the rush to build the stadiums with cheap and exploited labour. Even FIFA’s call on Qatar to respect labour standards has been ignored, so now we need people across the globe show Qatar that the world means business when we demand an end to slavery.”

Next week Sharan Burrow will announce the latest campaign leader-board at the annual ITUC General Council to union representatives from more than 50 countries.

This weeks’ top five has Japan leading with 86 campaign fans, followed by Korea (71), Pakistan (55), Belgium (52) and Sweden (49), with a total of nearly 1000 fans from over 100 countries.
The ITUC is calling on all its affiliates to engage union members and their communities in the online campaign http://act.equaltimes.org/en/fillastadium run by http://www.equaltimes.org.

“The ITUC is receiving new reports every day from migrant workers asking for help to get Qatari employers to pay them the wages they owe, to help them get back to their home countries when their bosses refuse to give their passports back, and to fix highly dangerous workplaces.

“Families in places like Nepal and the Philippines are desperate to find out the truth about how loved ones have died in Qatar. By engaging in the Equal Times campaign, every individual can help put the pressure on Qatar’s rulers by telling them that there can be no World Cup without workers’ rights,” said Ms. Burrow.

The ITUC represents 175 million workers in 308 affiliated national organisations from 153 countries and territories.

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ENDS

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