Support for petition to show Fifa yellow card
A Swiss organisation campaigning for fair working conditions in South Africa during the World Cup has gathered over 13,000 signatures in a petition.
The online petition by Swiss Labour Assistance wants to “Show the yellow card” to football’s Zurich-based governing body, Fifa.
Among the petition’s demands are for fair wages and conditions for construction workers and staff at the World Cup, a ban on demolition of impoverished areas and shantytowns and unrestricted freedom of the press during the World Cup.
“We ask Fifa to actively engage against exploitation and for the enforcement of basic human rights in the context of Fifa World Cups,” it notes.
The association said the Swiss public’s response to the petition during a tour around the country had been good and that it was important to maintain pressure on Fifa.
Fifa’s Swiss president, Sepp Blatter, recently stated that Fifa had contributed towards improving working conditions for construction workers, something Swiss Labour Assistance rejected in a statement issued on Monday, saying it took “26 strikes to get higher wages and they are still below subsistence levels”.
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