:: rawblogXport ::

:: Thursday, August 12, 2004 ::

13 construction workers have been killed on Olympic sites ABC Online, Australia
A deadly combination of companies cutting corners to get the venues finished, extremely lax safety standards and inexperienced workers is to blame. It's common to see men on Greek construction sites wearing thongs or sandals, but not helmets or safety harnesses.

Most of the dead were not Greek, and that's thought to reflect the fact that the construction companies have used a vast army of illegal and underpaid workers from eastern Europe and the Middle East to get the venues built.

Petros (phonetic) is Albanian, and helped build the athletes' village.
'I personally fell from the scaffolding,' he tells me. 'I was eight metres off the ground, and seriously injured my legs. Thankfully I have now recovered.'

Protests at Olympics over workers' deaths No Sweat
Anti-Olympics protesters gathered in central Athens Tuesday to hold an open-air memorial service for 13 workers killed during round-the-clock construction of venues for the games.

About 500 demonstrators stood in silence as the names of the workers were read out and olive wreaths placed on 13 crosses erected outside Greece's parliament three days before the games' start.

'We have paid for the Olympic games in blood,' said Andreas Zazopoulos, head of the Communist-backed Greek Construction Workers Union. 'All the money spent on the games means our children and grandchildren will have fewer benefits and will be worse off.'

posted 6:10 AM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

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