Oxfam hits out at sportwear firms

By Mark Doyle
BBC World Affairs Correspondent

David Beckham is one of the World Cup stars signed to Adidas

Top sportswear manufacturers making football boots for World Cup stars are failing to respect workers' rights in developing countries, a report says.

Aid agency Oxfam says workers in Asia face intimidation or dismissal when they form unions to protect rights.

It says none of the big sports brands are doing enough to solve the problem.

An Indonesian firm which makes Adidas boots for David Beckham fired 30 workers who had gone on strike for better pay, the report says.

Adidas replied that it had provided detailed information to Oxfam during the writing of the report, and added that it would respond in the specific case of the 30 sacked workers soon.

Oxfam acknowledges that the sportswear industry is a valuable source of jobs in Asia, and says Adidas has previously been one of the better employers in terms of respecting workers' rights.

But it says consumers buying sportswear, and workers who make the goods, have a right to continue to expect that companies supplying global brands will not exploit them.

The sportswear company Fila is accused by Oxfam of being "at the bottom of the league" because it had used a supplier company which had what the aid agency called "an appalling record of worker abuse".

Fila has not yet commented on the report.