:: rawblogXport ::

:: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 ::

Olympic Sized Horror in Greece by Dave Zirin, CounterPunch
You won't hear about it in NBC's gauzy coverage, but estimates range that as many as 150 construction workers died in work place accidents building Olympic facilities. The new center right government of Costas Karamanlis, terrified of international embarrassment for not having a modernized infrastructure, turned the screws to finish facilities by any means necessary

In the last week of round the clock preparation alone, 13 laborers were killed at the service of making Athens, in the words of one Olympic official, 'habitable for a global audience'.

As Andreas Zazopoulos, head of the Greek Construction Workers Union said, `'We have paid for the Olympic games in blood.'

“Sew-in” in Athens to highlight problems faced by sportswear workers ICFTU ONLINE
Twenty women gathered on an Athens rooftop to mark a silent protest staged by the Play Fair at the Olympics campaign. Play Fair held a “sew-in”, featuring “faceless” activists, operating sewing machines against the backdrop of the Acropolis. The action was staged in order to highlight the appalling working conditions experienced by hundreds of thousands of workers in the sportswear industry. They face punishing work schedules, poverty wages, harassment and discrimination on a daily basis.

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