Olympic volunteers discovered that doing the same job as paid staff is not playing games

The Tokyo Olympics are working hard to retain the volunteer team because the organizers are hiring paid employees to do similar work, which is the latest obstacle to Japan’s long-delayed Olympics.

According to the organizers, about 10,000 volunteers have withdrawn in recent weeks, of which about 110,000 are welcome faces for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics—— Work as a guide, Drivers, event staff, medical emergency personnel and interpreters.

However, because there is no foreign audience welcome, Tokyo has also entered a Covid-19 emergency, and the enthusiasm of volunteers is low, which highlights the difficulty of hosting the world’s largest sporting event during the pandemic.

The Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee insist that the Olympics will start on July 23 as planned, despite warnings that celebrate fans May spread the coronavirus, And a delayed vaccination campaign that only vaccinated about 13% of the population with the first dose.

The latest blow to volunteer morale occurred in Ads appear Provides an hourly salary of 1,700 yen ($15.50) on the Internet, and works as a front desk worker at the “large international sports events” in July and August.

Although Olympic Minister Marukawa Tamashiro said last month that volunteers and paid staff have different responsibilities, the tasks promoted include guiding the audience and measuring body temperature.

An ad For “sea sports venues”, it is like working in a holiday resort, providing board and lodging. Two organizations called by the Financial Times confirmed that these tasks are related to the Olympic Games.

Ueno Takamichi, a freelance photographer from Tochigi Prefecture, said that he still looks forward to his role in the bicycle road race and hopes to meet the riders. But he said that he was annoyed when he heard that the Olympic recruitment staff were working with volunteers because he had to go to the Fuji International Circuit-where the road race ended-and find accommodation at his own expense. “I don’t agree,” he said.

Katsuji Yoshioka, a retiree, said that he resigned as a volunteer in April after he was asked to participate in a 9-hour shift as a driver. “They call it driving supporters,” he said. “They are looking for a service between 2pm and 11pm, which means it is difficult to catch the last train.”

Yoshioka said that he thinks the work schedule is too tight for an inexperienced volunteer, and as a driver it is easy to get Covid. When he heard that paid employees were being recruited for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he felt he was right. He said: “If I do this work with people who get paid for it, it would be a joke.”

In order to make the Olympics safer and to reverse public sentiment, Japan is discussing whether to vaccinate all volunteers before the Olympics so that they will be ranked ahead of others in the queue. Japan currently only vaccinates people over the age of 65, but it will start vaccinating its employees from large companies on June 21.

“We have agreed to move in that direction,” Marukawa said in response to a question from Parliament this week. “But there are some practical issues.”