TUC slams union arrests at FIFA Congress

date: 31 May 2013

embargo: For immediate release

The TUC has today (Friday) slammed the arrest of eight Mauritian and international trade union representatives for holding a peaceful demonstration outside the FIFA Congress in Mauritius.

The protestors, who were calling on football's governing body to re-run the vote for the 2022 world cup because of worker and human right abuses in Qatar, were arrested by police for lobbying FIFA delegates.

The TUC along with its international equivalent - the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) - is calling on FIFA to address the appalling treatment of workers and players in Qatar and last week held protests outside UEFA's annual conference in London.

According to research by the ITUC more workers will die building the world cup infrastructure than players will take to the football pitch, unless steps are taken to reform working conditions in Qatar.

TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady: 'This is yet another PR own goal for FIFA following the botched decision to award Qatar the world cup.

'FIFA must, at the very least, explain why a lawful and peaceful demonstration was allowed to be broken up in such a heavy handed and draconian way.

'It cannot turn a blind eye in the way it has done to the abuses taking place in Qatar. The reputation of the competition will be put at risk if it is allowed to be staged in a country where workers and players are treated like modern day slaves.'

ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said: 'We don't yet know if this was done purely at FIFA's demand, or if Qatar has also used its financial muscle to push Mauritius to betray its own democratic tradition.

'FIFA should be ashamed at being used as a vehicle to export Qatar's repressive policies to the country hosting its Congress. We demand that the authorities release the eight arrested, and withdraw all charges against them.'

The ITUC has produced a spoof football fanzine Workers' United which features the cases of two professional footballers recruited to play in Qatar after playing in France:

• French/Algerian striker Zahir Belounis is trapped in Qatar after being recruited to play for a national team. He is owed wages and is threatening hunger strike unless the conditions of his contract are met and his exit papers are signed so he can leave the country.
• Moroccan International Abdeslam Ouaddou who has played for AS Nancy-Lorraine and Fulham is owed wages after his contract to 2015 was not honoured by his Qatari club. Ouaddou was isolated from his team mates and forced to train in the summer heat.

Football fans and trade union members are being encouraged to join the campaign at www.rerunthevote.org in one of the largest global campaigns embarked upon by international unions in recent years.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- For more information on the ITUC campaign check out the Workers United fanzine http://www.rerunthevote.org/IMG/pdf/fanzine_web_final.pdf

- Mauritian law allows up to 12 people to hold a peaceful demonstration without prior permission. While many others wanted to join the demonstration, the three trade union centres, MLC, MTUC and NTUC, decided to keep well within the legal limit and follow well-established police procedures. However the police arrested the eight just before the FIFA cavalcade passed them on their way to the Congress opening, then charged them with holding a demonstration without a permit.

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
Alex Rossiter T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07887 572130 E: arossiter@tuc.org.uk

Gemma Swart ITUC Press Officer M: +32 479 06 41 63 E: gemma.swart@ituc-csi.org