Mega Sports Events (MSEs) such as the 2022 Qatar World Cup and Tokyo 2020 Olympics have the capacity to unite nations, kick start economic growth and advance social development. But the Tokyo Olympics have recently come under scrutiny for an issue that has become commonplace in the construction of sports stadia: violations of construction worker rights. The International Olympic Committee and Tokyo Olympic organisers have been asked to investigate construction worker safety at the venues being built for next year’s games.

In May, Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) published a study into the labour conditions of workers in Japan, documenting ‘’how ongoing overwork and poor access to justice are creating a culture of fear for Tokyo 2020 workers’’. The findings were alarming: overwork, poor health and safety provision and conditions which leave the migrant workforce at risk of financial and physical harm. Furthermore, Japan is one of the only advanced economies in the world without legal requirements for workers to receive employment contracts, meaning much of the employment is informal.

Ambet Yuson, the general secretary of BWI, recently credited Japan with having a “strong, organised labour system. They take pride in their own system. So being told they need to make sure they are up to the international level is different. They say: ‘No, we are at the international level.’’ However Yuson says there is a lack of knowledge when it comes to protecting the migrant workforce in Japan, which could be due in part to the country’s traditionally strict migration rules.

The lack of protection for migrant construction workers has been a major focus of research for EAP in recent years and due to long subcontracting chains in the industry, one of the key risks facing migrant workers is late or non-payment of wages. According to BWI’s study, in Tokyo this seems to be no different: there have been reports of one such small firm going bankrupt and leaving the migrant workforce it employs without the wages owed to them.

EAP will soon be launching a new series of policy papers which will focus on the construction of sports stadia for MSEs. These papers will put forward a series of recommendations for stakeholders involved in construction, addressing many of the problems that we currently see in Tokyo. Given the profits generated by these events, their potential to stimulate economic growth and the international standing they bring to host countries, we will put forward the case to ensure that the rights, pay and safety of MSE construction workers are protected.

Featured image attribution: Cesar I. Martins