The soccer ball industry was under fire last year from a campaign in which thousands of soccer-playing children and their parents wrote letters and signed petitions protesting the use of child labor in the sewing of balls. In a move in February designed to rescue their corporate good names, U.S. soccer ball manufacturers joined with the International Labor Organization (ILO), UNICEF and local suppliers to sign an agreement "with the goal of eliminating child labor in the soccer ball industry in Sialkot, Pakistan, during the next 18 months," according to ILO News.

Over half of U.S. soccer balls come from Pakistan where the industry admits that over 17% are made by children under the age of 14, according to information supplied by the FoulBall Campaign in Washington, DC, which has been working for the elimination of child labor in the production of the popular balls.

The agreement contains provisions for the establishment of an internal monitoring system to exercise oversight within companies (including contractors and subcontractors) producing soccer balls. Under the terms of the Agreement, manufacturers also agree to comply with independent monitoring. An independent monitoring body will, according to the ILO, "be established to provide periodic reports to the World Federation of Sporting Goods Industries for public dissemination to customers and consumers worldwide."

FoulBall Campaign's national director Dan McCurry warned, however, "We know that the proof of the industry's commitment will be in the implementation and full funding of their program. The proposed oversight commission involving the ILO must function independently and with teeth or this paper plan will do little but raise false expectations."

Close to 10,000 Pakistani children under the age of 14 work up to 10 hours a day, according to the New York Times, stitching the leather balls, often for the equivalent of $1.20 a day! The soccer ball industry is concentrated in the Sialkot region in the Pakistani province of Punjab which produces 75% of the world's hand-stitched soccer balls for an export market that generates $1 billion in retail sales annually. Children there learn at an early age the art of stitching the hexagonal pieces of leather into balls. Children are paid, on the average 60 per ball and can usually sew two balls a day. Adults earn a little more per ball.

The companies participating in the agreement (Adidas Reebok, Nike, Umbro, Mitre, Brine and 50 others) said, according to the New York Times, that the price of soccer balls might rise because of the cost of monitoring and of paying adults more than children. However, McCurry of FoulBall said "It would be obscene to raise the price of the balls, which now retail for $30-50, because this program means they might pay stitchers 70 a ball instead of 60."

"Many of these children are the third generation of their families stitching balls. Until their parents are paid a living wage, guaranteed the freedom of association, and other globally recognized worker rights, these families will remain trapped in poverty," added Pharis Harvey, co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition, a U.S. network of child advocates.

Industry seems to have accepted in principle FoulBall's demands for an education/rehabilitation program to discourage children from re- entering other parts of the workforce, and for the employment of members of the same family when child stitchers are removed. The agreement sets up a program to assist manufacturers and assemblers of soccer balls in identifying and removing child laborers from the industry and providing them with educational and other opportunities. The program, however, is voluntary, according to the ILO, and merely "calls upon manufacturers to publicly commit to a series of actions designed to prevent the practice of stitching by children under 14 years of age, by requiring the formal registration of all contractors, all stitching locations and all stitchers (including documentation of their ages)."

Spending on the Sialkot project is expected to reach approximately $1 million during the next 24 months, including contributions of at least $500,000 from the ILO (consisting of funds from the U.S. government), roughly $360,000 from local manufacturers (to fund the costs of the independent monitor), $100,000 from the Soccer Industry Council of America (to support elements of the Social Protection Program) and $200,000 from UNICEF. The U.S. funds are provided by the Department of Labor under an appropriation sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin (D- IA).

A Coordinating Committee, including the ILO, UNICEF and the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry plus the international non- governmental organization Save the Children Fund (UK) will be set up to implement the terms of the accord, provide technical cooperation and make public, on a regular basis, status reports on the project and its results.

ACTION SUGGESTIONS:

Constant vigilance will be necessary if this agreement is to be effective. The FoulBall Campaign promises to "maintain a monitoring network over continuing child labor abuses in the manufacture of soccer balls and other sporting goods used in America's schoolyards, parks, public spaces and other tax supported arenas."

For more information, contact the FoulBall Campaign (A Program of the International Labor Rights Fund) 110 Maryland Ave., NE, #74, Washington, DC 20002; Tel: (202) 544-7198 e-mail: Website: http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~laser/ILRF.HTM

FoulBall recommends letters to the following public figures.

Write to:

John Riddle, President Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association 200 Castlewood Drive North Palm Beach, FL 33408 Tel: (561) 842-4100; Fax: (561) 863-8984 e-mail:

Stephen Rubin, President World Federation of Sporting Goods Industries The Pentland Centre, Lakeside Squires Lane London N3 2QL England Tel: 011-44-1181-348-2600; Fax: 011-44-181-348-2799

Congratulate the soccer ball manufacturers for agreeing to a plan to address child labor in their industry. But insist on the importance of independent monitoring to assure that local suppliers do not use child workers. Equally important are: the employment of members of the families which lose the income from child laborers and the implementation of promised social and educational programs so that the children do not turn to more dangerous jobs or to prostitution.

Alan Rothenberg, President U.S. Soccer Federation 801-1811 South Prairie Avenue Chicago, Il 60616 Phone: (312) 808-1300, Fax: (312) 808-1301

Tell Mr. Rothenberg that no U.S. professional soccer teams should use balls whose manufacturer cannot be certified to be free of child labor. Ask him to support independent monitoring of factories sewing soccer balls.