For the Greek people the Olympic games of 2004 were not just a big event because of the "appointment" with the international community and the media. Years before the crucial August of 2004 the goal was to open the hot issue of organizing the first Olympics without commercial companies, the fist Olympics without big sponsors.

At the same time many actors of the civil society (NGOs, Trade Unions, International Networks) put on the agenda the ethical dimension of the games. Not only because of the fact that the strong majority of the workers building the Olympic installations were economical refugees from Balkan and African countries but also the role of the "famous" athletic companies and the profile of Greece as part of the "Olympic family".

In the period before the opening of the Olympic games there was a big debate at the Greek Trade Unions Confederation. It was about our active participation and that's why we welcomed on our congress of March 2004 the representatives of the Fair Olympics Campaign. We agreed to participate and to act together with all the other partners, supporting the big event a day before the official opening of the Olympics in Athens.

From the side of the Greek Trade Unions, the Youth Secretariat was responsible for organizing all the necessary steps and to make preparations on local level for the big event of August. It was really an interesting period because we were the only organization with an alternative view for the Olympics. We had the opportunity to contact the Greek media and the NGO sector in preparations for the August event and the reaction was positive.

A week before the August event in our headquarters in Athens we hosted a big team of people from a lot of countries and we established a real red line mechanism to prepare all the details. It was really very interesting, the searching for the representatives of the big media outside the "Olympic hotels", the effort to enter even in the big press conferences (it was the days of the scandal with the Bulgarian Olympic Committee) and the whole atmosphere of the team cooperation.

On August 10 there was a big media event involving setting up a "factory" on a hotel rooftop in Athens overlooking the Acropolis. Women worked behind sewing machines, wearing masks to draw attention to the fact that the working lives of women who make sportswear are usually hidden from public attention. Engin Sedat Kaya from Turkey and Ms. Parkati from Indonesia described conditions in sportswear production in their countries. The more than 550.000 signatures that have so far been collected were presented to the public, since the International Olympic Committee refused to accept the signatures in Athens.

The event was covered by most of the major newswire services, including Reuters, Agence France Press and AP and was picked up by radio stations, newspapers, TV stations and websites around the world. In Spain for example six regional newspapers, one TV station and two radio stations covered the event. A picture of the stunt was the main photo of the day and the week on the BBC website and there was a one page article in the Economist.

Now, almost one year after our event in Athens and the Olympic games, we believe that it was really an interesting and successful action. Not only because of the high level of publicity in the media at those days, but also because of the results in the level of the International Olympic Committee. Of course we don't solve the problem immediately, but with our actions we inform the public opinion about a very serious but covered problem. The relations between the sports multinationals and the I.O.C., the working conditions in the factories of the "famous" sports branches and the capability of the civil society to comment, act and react.

For the Greek Trade Unions it was an interesting experience and the beginning of a strong cooperation with NGO organizations to link with the Ethical and Fair Trade movement and the beginning to adapt to the Greek society some new actions of active participation.

For the Greek General Confederation of Labour (G.S.E.E.)
Babis Papaioannou
Youth Secretary

Play Fair at the Olympics arrives in Greece, home of the games!

At the congress of the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE) in Athens, delegates from Global Unions, CCC and Oxfam, unveiled the Play Fair campaign to Greek trade unionists.

To show that the Play Fair at the Olympics campaign had arrived, trade union representatives Ari Seger (SAK- Finland), Ulla Lindqvist (LO Sweden) and Plamen Dimitrov (CITUB Bulgaria) posed with Oxfam's Carolyn Blyth in front of the Parthenon on the Acropolis with campaign posters. Later, in front of around 500 delegates, Duncan Pruett from Global Unions presented the Play Fair at the Olympics campaign. Further details were given about the campaign's goals and methods by Esther De Haan (CCC), Duncan and Carolyn at a side meeting on labour and globalisation.

After the presentation, GSEE President, Christos Polyzogopoulos, added his signature to an Olympic Torch symbolising solidarity with workers making sportswear around the world. The torch contains the signatures of leaders representing unions in around 100 countries. It left Greece on March 20, five days ahead of the departure of the official Olympic torch, for Cambodia, where it will be passed to members of the Play Fair at the Olympics campaign in the Asia Pacific region.