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With the fever of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar rising and soccer-related products including national team uniforms being sold like hot cakes, it has been revealed that the workers who actually make the products are in poor conditions.



On the 1st of local time, the New York Times (NYT) reported that "Southeast Asian workers who make soccer products earn less than $ 3 a day."



According to reports, about 7,800 employees working at the Puchen Group factory in Yangon, Myanmar were receiving 4,800 kyat (USD 2.27, KRW 2,967) a day while making Adidas soccer boots.



They were fired after going on strike to raise their daily wage to $3.78 (KRW 4,941) in October, ahead of the World Cup.



At that time, the factory called in military troops to suppress the strike and fired 26 people, including 16 union leaders.



Regarding the layoffs, the Fuchen Group headquarters in Taiwan said they were "following local laws and regulations."



Adidas said, "We have strongly opposed the dismissal," and said, "We are investigating whether the supplier's actions are legal."



"We urge the immediate reinstatement of the laid-off workers," he added.



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It is known that about 40 million workers in the garment industry in South Asia, including Myanmar, are treated poorly in poor working conditions.



Last month, workers working at an Adidas Indonesian factory held a protest and sent an open message to world-famous football star Lionel Messi, the model for Adidas.



They asked, “During Corona 19, Adidas cut my wages and did not return them,” and “Did Adidas cut your model down payment?”



Even before the opening of the World Cup, the treatment of migrant workers and oppression of sexual minorities in Qatar emerged as an international human rights issue, but it is pointed out that the issue of Southeast Asian workers who make World Cup apparel has received relatively little attention.



Regarding this, Tulsi Narayanasamy, director of the Workers' Human Rights Consortium, said, "The serious human rights violations of apparel workers who make World Cup-related products are completely ignored."



(Photo = AP, Yonhap News, Twitter 'Emelia Yanti Siahaan'

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