January 2006

This June, the FIFA World Cup will take place in Germany, a major sporting event which will stir the passion of millions of people around the world. But who is behind the show? In the background, there are thousands of stitchers in developing countries producing the balls for the matches. Pakistan is the largest producer of footballs, with India in the second place. Despite of the difficulty of the job, wages are incredibly low. Also, the use of child labour and unfair labour practice in the sporting goods industry has been a major issue and has been addressed by many NGOs and media. In this situation, through labelling, Fairtrade aims to support these campaigns by certifying those factories which ensure safe and good working conditions for the employees as well as no child labour and support the empowerment and development of the workers and stitchers. In the football industry, the Fairtrade Certification Mark should become the reference for excellence and promoting development through sound business practices.

Vision Technologies Corporation, a football factory in Pakistan, is Fairtrade Certified since 2002. Vision is situated in the city of Sialkot in the north-east of the country, the centre of sport balls industry. Between 25,000 and 30,000 of Sialkot's 500,000 inhabitants work in this branch.

"Acquiring Fairtrade certification is the beginning of an ongoing quest for a socially responsible business culture" explains Ahsan Naeem, Manager of the factory. The Fairtrade Certification is a guarantee that no child labour is being used, the workers right of being part of a Union is being respected and that they are organized in Joint Bodies. "Our workers' union and civil society counterparts have played a prominent role in Vision's aspirations to become a leading fair-trade ball supplier" adds Ahsan Naeem.

Vision has 162 workers in the main factory, and 1,100 stitchers spread across 19 IMAC (Independent Monitoring Association for Child Labour) -registered stitching centres. At present, the factory only sells small volumes to the fair market. It produces about 0.7 million balls per year, out of which fair-trade product amounts to 20,000 balls. Thus still only 3 % of the volume is fair-traded. Even though the Fairtrade Premium received so far is just under USD 5,000, (USD 5,000 amounts to PKR 300,000), Vision's Joint Body has already started implementing two workers' projects. The first is a mobile health clinic that can reach their various communities away from Sialkot, and the second is to have a fair price shop where workers can purchase articles of daily use at wholesale prices. The mobile clinic will cost about USD 10,000 to start up, and another USD 4,000 per year to run. The fair price shop will require a minimum of USD 6,000 to stock and another USD 4,000 to run until it can achieve a self-sustaining turn-over. Vision' Joint Body has requested, and management is considering, an interest-free loan to launch the project within 2006. As premium money comes in, the loan will be paid back.

Rana Nadeem, 23 years, is a bladder inspection worker at Visions. He wishes that a lot of people in Europe will buy Fairtrade balls. "That would help us to get much needed services like health clinics and fair-price shops, bringing an immediate improvement in our quality of lives", he explains. As the World Cup is approaching fast, he and his colleagues at Vision's have a clear message to potential consumers in the North: "Our Fairtrade footballs compete extremely well in terms of quality and price. By buying them, consumers can get both value and satisfaction. Fairtrade is a lifestyle choice and we would like to see more and more people make it."

Currently Fairtrade Certified Footballs are available in Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan the UK and Sweden. Please check on the Website of these National Initiatives to find out in which stores you can buy them.