Pressure is mounting on Adidas after stores across the country were targeted on Saturday by protesters angry about claims over how little the Olympic sponsor pays its workers in the developing world.
The move came as the London Organising Committee for the Games also launched an investigation into practices at the sportwear brand’s Shen Zhou factory in Cambodia.
The claims were backed up by campaign group, Labour Behind the Label, which also alleged that Adidas workers making official Olympics merchandise earn a mere £10 per week in basic pay terms.
As a result, the group claims that the high-profile brand is in breach of its agreement with LOCOG, which states that merchandise suppliers must pay workers a sustainable living wage.
Adidas, on the other hand, attests that workers at the factory make an average of £130 per month and will receive pay increases from September. A spokesman told The Press Association: “We are confident we are adhering to and, in fact, exceeding the high standards set by LOCOG.”
During Saturday’s day of action, meanwhile, anti-poverty charity War on Want handed out thousands of leaflets in the shape of price tags, which carried the slogan ‘34p – Exploitation’, and encouraged campaigners to attach them to Adidas products.
Thirty four pence is the amount that the charity claims is the minimal hourly wage for Indonesian workers who manufacture the high profile brand’s goods – a figure that Bill Anderson, Adidas’ head of social and environmental affairs for Asia Pacific, attested was questionable in his blog.
A spokesman likewise told The Press Association that the average wage was “almost double” the figure being cited, adding that: “Adidas takes all allegations about working conditions extremely seriously and is fully committed to protecting workers rights.”
But War on Want sweatshops campaigner, Murray Worthy, said: “Adidas is clearly now on the rack through growing pressure over sweatshops. Thousands of our tags are being put on its products across the country. It is high time Adidas recognised exploitation is not OK and ensured a living wage for its factory workers.”
The charity is calling for the brand to tackle the alleged abuse of workers’ rights in its supplier factories and demand that they be paid a living wage and given trade union rights.
