Brazil Banking Strike, Late Sponsorships Delaying Rio 2016 Payments

(ATR) Rio 2016 tells Around the Rings late payments to Games’ freelancers will be sent out by the end of the month.

ATR received an anonymous tip from an Olympic News Service staffer with information from Rio 2016 apologizing and explaining late payments. The tipster said that many ONS staff members have not been paid for Games work, with many not receiving multiple months of payments. ATRcontacted other ONS employees, but could not independently verify the anonymous tip.

"There is no firm date for us to be paid and we are concerned as more and more time passes we may not be paid at all," the note read. "All of us have done multiple events and have never encountered a situation like this before. Our work at the Games was highly praised. Being a small team many staff worked in excess of ten or twelve hours a day for weeks on end to make the ONS a success."

Rio 2016 communications director Mario Andrada confirmed that some payments to international freelancers were delayed due to an ill-timed strike from Brazilian banks. Due to Brazilian law, the strike made it nearly impossible for Rio 2016 to send money overseas. The strike lasted from Sept. 6 to Oct. 7, the longest in Brazilian history.

Andrada says that payments will be sent out by the end of the month, with a two week deadline at the latest.

"We are very sorry that the payment is late especially for those who worked so hard and we are doing our best to fix this problem as fast as we can," Andrada said to ATR. "As we finish paying everyone we will send more formal apologies; we cannot do that before we pay."

Freelancers are not the only payments that Rio 2016 is sending out. Andrada confirmed that Rio 2016 is continuing to pay companies and suppliers, but those payments will be slightly delayed. To finalize those payments, Rio 2016 must wait on late payments from sponsors and the government, as well as the next installment of funds from the IOC.

The IOC previously accelerated some payments to the Rio 2016 organizing committee to help with some payments, but the committee is back to a regular schedule. As for government funding, Rio 2016 chief executive Sidney Levy says only up to one percent of the organizing committee’s budget will come from government funding.

"By the end of 2016 we’ll pay everybody and honor our commitment," Andrada said. "There is no chance we won’t fulfill our commitment."

Written by Aaron Bauer

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