50,000 demand Adidas pay £1.1m to laid-off Indonesian factory staff

Anti-sweatshop campaigners in Britain, the US and Germany handed the 47,538-strong petition to the company, which has so far refused to pitch in to help 2,800 staff struggling to make ends meet.

The workers at the PT Kizone factory, who campaigners say were paid as little as 45p an hour, were initially left without legally owed severance pay when the factory closed in April 2011.

While other firms that bought from the factory have paid a portion of the severance, Adidas is the only one that has refused to contribute according to War on Want.

As a result former workers have had to withdraw their children from school and are barely able to afford two meals a day for their families.

Under international pressure, Adidas recently offered the former workers food vouchers worth an insulting £35, which they rejected.

Activists delivered the petition to the Paralympics sponsor's US headquarters as well as its biggest shops in Britain and Germany.

War on Want campaigner Murray Worthy called it "scandalous" that Adidas has spent an estimated £80m sponsoring the Olympics but won't give the workers that used to make its clothes "just a fraction of that."

"Adidas must take responsibility and pay these workers what they are owed."

Adidas has denied the allegations.

paddym@peoples-press.com