Campaign Updates
June 23, 2009-- Group urges San Francisco to join Consortium
As we reported on June 19, a cut to the funding of San Francisco's sweatshop-free procurement ordinance was quickly restored last Friday following deep concern expressed by Bay Area activists and SweatFree Communities.
Today a group of organizations and individuals, leaders in the anti-sweatshop movement, sent a joint letter to Mayor Newsom thanking him for restoring the funding and asking him to bring San Francisco on-board the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium.
June 23, 2009-- Berkeley City Council to vote on sweatfree procurement ordinance tonight
The City of Berkeley is poised to become the 39th city in the nation to pass an ordinance mandating that goods purchased by the city be manufactured free of sweatshop conditions
After over three years of work, the Berkeley City Council will mull the passage of a Sweatfree Purchasing Ordinance, becoming the 39th city in the nation to pass an ordinance mandating that goods purchased by the city be manufactured free of sweatshop conditions. If the ordinance should pass, it would clear the decks for the city to join the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium, which would stop tax dollar support for sweatshop abuses and level the playing field for ethical U.S. businesses. While the City of San Francisco has possessed a sweatshop-free ordinance for several years, the City of Berkeley has yet to pass one despite having committing to join the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium in July 2007.
Representatives from the Berkeley Commission on Labor, the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission, and various organizations came together with Berkeley's city staff to create the consensus document going before the Berkeley City Council tonight. The ordinance, if passed, would affect garments purchased by the City of Berkeley at the $25,000 level or above and include provisions that other goods and services may be added over time. The language also makes it mandatory for vendors to disclose manufacturing locations of their subsidiaries and ensure that their workers enjoy freedom of association and a non-poverty wage.
When: Tuesday, June 23, 7pm
Where: Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, Berkeley CA
June 22, 2009-- Allegheny County commends anti-sweatshop work
In Pittsburgh, three university Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) affiliates are convening regularly to review the WRC recommendations and share what they have learned about the global apparel industry with others in Western Pennsylvania. These three universities were recognized with a proclamation from Allegheny County County on June 16, 2009, which stated that "the global apparel industry is rife with abuse of human and worker rights" and commended the universities "for
their efforts to quell human rights abuse and for joining the Worker
Rights Consortium -- an independent, non-profit monitor of workplace
conditions that allows the universities to assure social
responsibility." The Council is inviting them to the policy table to discuss implementation of the County's anti-sweatshop ordinance. Members of the Pittsburgh Anti-Sweatshop Community Alliance helped to organize this group of universities and the Proclamation is intended to deliver the institutionalized knowledge of the WRC to the Pittsburgh Pirates via the City/County appointees on the Sports and Exhibition Authority.
June 19, 2009-- Victory: San Francisco's sweatfree ordinance saved
A week ago we learned that San Francisco's sweatfree future was in jeopardy, the mayor having cut funding for independent monitoring of San Francisco's supplier factories. Today we are thrilled to report the cuts have been rescinded and monitoring will indeed be fully funded.
We are grateful to everyone in San Francisco who took action. You made a difference and you made it quickly. In a letter to SweatFree Communities, the Mayor’s Office says that they are "moving to ensure...the full amount of funding in the independent monitoring account ($50,000)" for the coming fiscal year. First up for monitoring will be factories supplying San Francisco law enforcement officials.
The Mayor's Office also indicates that they will consider doing monitoring jointly with other cities and states, combining strength, sharing resources, and pooling information through the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium. We will continue to advocate that San Francisco should do just that. Ultimately, San Francisco and other cities and states can make sweatfree purchases cheaper and more effectively by sharing monitoring costs, leveraging influence with companies, and making joint strategic decision on monitoring projects.
June 16, 2009-- Spiewak factory labor report
The Milwaukee Clean Clothes Campaign has broken new ground, releasing a report on a uniform factory that would make police uniforms for the city pending the outcome of a contract decision. A China Labor Watch investigation reveals severe labor rights violations in a factory in China that produces for the Spiewak uniform company. Legal violations include:
- Wages below the local minimum wage, far below the non-poverty wage required by Milwaukee, and lower than that disclosed by Spiewak.
- No paid vacation or holidays.
- A regular 12 hour workday, at least six day a week, for at least 72 hours per week.
