Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ENGLAND KIT MADE BY 21P-AN-HOUR WORKERS
Nike shamed over its £160 World Cup gear World Cup ticket sales down on Brazil
ENGLAND’S World Cup kit sells for £160, but is made in a factory in Bangladesh where workers are paid as little as 21p an hour, it is claimed.
The official Nike shirt and shorts, part of the most expensive England kit ever, are made at a factory inside a government-controlled zone where female garment workers are paid as little as £1.68 a day.
The Daily Telegraph uncovered evidence of staff in Savar, near the capital Dhaka, working
60 hours a week.
In 2016, the FA gave
Nike a 12-year contract extension worth £400million.
MP Jo Stevens, a Labour member of the Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport Committee, called for an investigation.
She said: “The FA have a duty to oversee every aspect of England’s engagement with the World Cup, including the kit, which we should be WORLD Cup ticket sales to England fans are significantly down on Brazil 2014.
FIFA said 34,000 had been allocated for the event in Russia in two weeks.
England supporters snapped up nearly 59,000 for Brazil four years ago, according proud of as a country. It will be hard to be proud if it turns out it was made on the back of people being exploited.” The Clean Clothes Campaign said: “Their wages do not even cover basic needs, much less enable them and their families to have decent lives.
“An easy way for Nike to profit is making the fans pay a lot for the kits while workers are paid starvation wages.
“Fans should demand Nike change this exploitative business model.” Bangladesh garment workers get a minimum monthly wage of £47. Nike, which makes the England strip socks in Bulgaria, says it does business “ethically and sustainably” and suppliers must pay “at least the local minimum wage or prevailing wage”. Football Association bosses said they had received “assurances that all England products are manufactured in accordance with the law”. to the governing body. Some 3,500 hopeful England followers have a pass for the Moscow final on July 15.
The top three countries by ticket sales are Russia (872,000), USA (86,000) and Brazil (71,000).