The Olympic Games have been plagued by issues in recent days in Brazil.
It looks like the Organisers may be about to have one of their biggest problems in the coming days, as many volunteers are not turning up to do their jobs. Volunteers work in all areas of the events from athlete assistance to helping fans reach the venues around the city.
According to Luis Moreira, a former volunteer, many have left their positions due to the poor working conditions.
“Many volunteers had to quit because they had to work two weeks in a row”, he told CBC. “Schedules were messed up, lots of people quit because of the food: they were told to work eight, nine hours and were only provided with a little snack.”
“I don’t think the organising committee had enough consideration for people’s lives and welfare. It was as though the organising committee was doing us a favour. The committee uses the volunteers to make money, uses us for free labour.”
The conditions which the volunteers are working in, is in stark contrast to those of the IOC officials. It was revealed before the Games, that the IOC top-brass were given an €800 daily allowance for food during the Olympics.
Around 50,000 volunteers were given jobs ahead of the Games, the New York Daily News, claim that 15,000 have already left their posts, despite being called “the backbone of the Games” by an IOC spokesman.
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