When Germany hosts the Women's World Cup, Deutsche Post will be cheering along as major premier sponsor. But, say trade unions, the German-based multinational is playing anything but a clean game. According to them, its subsidiary company, the logistics giant DHL, is guilty of committing fouls against its own team.

UNI global union and the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) say that Deutsche Post is using the Women’s World Cup to present itself as a company that fights for human rights, equality and fairness. Yet, they allege, employees around the world report that DHL regularly violates these principles.

UNI and the ITF reported a range of complaints made by DHL workers worldwide alleging that they had suffered intimidation, wrongful dismissals, low safety standards, scare tactics, general exploitation and even been made to take lie detector tests. In some countries outside Germany trade unions which were struggling to improve working conditions have been suppressed.

DHL's record, the ITF and UNI say, is about as far from fair play, human rights and equality as you can get.