Sports Firms Unite in Child Labor Project

Nike Inc. of Beaverton, Ore., and Reebok International Ltd. of Stoughton, Mass., joined several other sporting goods companies in forming a campaign to stop the exploitation of Pakistani children who stitch soccer balls. The World Federation of the Sports Goods Industry and the American-based Sporting Goods Manufacturing Assn. pledged that major companies will buy soccer balls produced in Pakistan only if they were not made by children. The project will be phased in over 18 months and independent monitors will issue public reports on whether companies are complying. About 75% of the world’s $1-billion soccer ball industry is centered in Pakistan, where child welfare organizations estimate that 7,000 to 10,000 children work up to 10 hours a day for little pay to stitch soccer balls.