Action outside UEFA on Friday 24 May
The TUC and International Trade Union Confederation will be taking part in a protest action outside the UEFA Congress:
Friday 24 May
8-9am
Grosvenor House Hotel Park Lane
London, W1K 7TN
UEFA delegates from European football associations meet in London for their annual congress.
The international trade union movement is campaigning for FIFA to rerun the vote for the Qatar 2022 World Cup because of serious abuses of workers’ rights, increasing fatalities and failure of FIFA and Qatar to reform.
The campaigners say:
Qatar is practicing a form of modern slavery effecting over 1.2 million migrant workers; including both construction workers and footballers, As the ITUC general secretary, who will join the protest before travelling to Qatar later in the day, has said “More workers will die building World Cup infrastructure than players will take to the field unless steps are taken to reform working conditions in Qatar.”
The harsh restrictions in Qatar effect workers in all sectors, Zahir Belounis a professional footballer from France is trapped in Qatar after being recruited to play for a national team because of the strict visa sponsorship rules. He is owed wages and is threatening hunger strike unless he is allowed to leave the country with his family.
The TUC and ITUC are calling on UEFA delegates to
– elect FIFA executive delegates who are committed to reform
– press FIFA to rerun the vote for Qatar 2022
The calls to rerun the vote comes after years of broken promises from FIFA and Qatar to reform. Unions contend there is still time to rerun the vote as the 2022 World Cup was awarded 7 years ahead of schedule.
Sam Gurney
TUC Policy Officer
European Union and International Relations Department
020 7467 1395