Tony Lennon, president of Bectu, a union that represents people in the entertainment industry, said London 2012 officials asked members of the union to work for free on the Closing Ceremony handover of the Beijing Olympic Games.
Inside The Games reports that Lennon was told the prestige of the event featuring Leona Lewis, Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page and former England captain David Beckham in an eight-minute segment at the Closing Ceremony should have been enough for them.
He said, “people approached our members – designers, production managers and so on – to persuade them to work for nothing on the handover in Beijing. There is a budget of almost 10 billion pounds for the London Olympics, and while 100,000 people have applied to be volunteers, there are all sorts of professional, health and safety and security issues, and we need skilled people”.
Lennon said he wants talks with London 2012 officials to discuss the situation, saying, “we will be laying down a fairly firm marker that volunteers are not appropriate for all jobs. There are concerns that with its enormous budget LOCOG is under pressure to cut costs where it can”.
Inside The Games reports a spokeswoman for London 2012 denied that anyone had been asked to work for nothing.
Meanwhile London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said they are “doing very well” in securing funds for the Games, even amid the financial turmoil in the U.S. that could turn companies away from sports sponsorship.
Bloomberg reports Lord Coe told reporters in Beijing Tuesday the organizing committee budget of two billion pounds, funded primarily from the private sector, is “scalable”, so that costs may be cut further if necessary. He said the committee already secured “the bulk” of funds from its “tier-one” sponsors. “So far we’re doing very well. We will continue to bring those business partners onto the table”.
London Mayor Boris Johnson told reporters Tuesday, “it’s absolutely vital that we deliver a Games that’s on budget and we’re going to do that. I’m absolutely certain that Londoners don’t have to pay a penny more”.
