Editorial: Acting locally, changing lives globally in purchases

June 9, 2007 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A plan to expand Milwaukee's so-called sweat-free purchasing ordinance to items beyond clothing raises valid questions about cost and delays, but California's experience show the proposal is doable.

No politician wants to come down on the side of sweatshop labor, especially in a heavily unionized manufacturing state such as Wisconsin, which has lost so many jobs to countries where labor is cheap and benefits questionable. The question, and it is legitimate, is how far are politicians prepared to go?

Four years ago, the Common Council put Milwaukee in the vanguard of the growing anti-sweatshop movement by approving a so-called sweat-free ordinance for city clothing purchases. Ald. Tony Zielinski now wants to apply those standards to all city purchases above $30,000.

If the council goes along - a big question mark despite the recent support of Council President Willie Hines - Milwaukee will have what is believed to be the most sweeping sweat-free purchasing code in the nation with the exception of California.

It merits the council's support in principle, providing supporters can clearly pin down the cost to the city, an important consideration in light of the city's budgetary constraints. The proposal may come before the Finance and Personnel Committee Wednesday.

Although they support the idea in theory, many people in City Hall - from the mayor's office to the purchasing director, Cheryl Oliva, as well as a number of aldermen - have raised valid questions about the practical implications of the proposal by Zielinski and Ald. Bob Bauman.

California has had a sweat-free purchasing code since 1996, amended in 2003 to include apparel. Officials there, including Michelle Ogata, assistant deputy of the state's Procurement Division, said the sweat-free law has not posed any significant problems in terms of increased costs, delays in bidding and purchasing or a decline in the number of participating bidders. A December 2005 report to a California state legislator from the acting director of the Department of Industrial Relations on clothing purchases essentially came to the same conclusion.

Leslie Silletti, a fiscal analyst with Milwaukee's Legislative Reference Bureau who independently looked into the issue at Zielinski's request, was also informed that the California law had no "significant impact" on such things as cost and the time it took to purchase items.

Comparing the City of Milwaukee to the State of California is not apples and apples, of course, but the fundamentals of what Zielinski has in mind and what California already does are not that different.

The Zielinski proposal would borrow from the city's current sweat-free guidelines regarding apparel purchases, including that contractors pay workers more than poverty-level wages. Those guidelines have become almost standard throughout the country in communities with sweat-free codes.

According to Silletti, as of March, 175 governmental units and organizations throughout the United States had sweat-free codes - primarily for clothing - including six states, 36 cities and 117 school districts. That list includes Milwaukee County, the Milwaukee Public Schools and the City of Madison.

Oliva's reservations about Zielinski's idea are based on the long delays and vendor objections her office already has seen with clothing purchases. In November 2004, the city closed its bid for shirts for building inspectors, but the bid wasn't awarded until the following March, far longer than normal because of the new rules, Oliva said.

Expanding the conditions to all purchases, she fears, will undermine the progress her office has made to streamline bidding to save the city money and to encourage more bidders. She estimates her office will have to hire two more people at a total cost of about $100,000 annually if the Zielinski plan is adopted.

That's a strong argument, bolstered in part by others. Pinky Buford, Milwaukee County's procurement director, says the county's sweat-free code for purchases "has slowed us down a couple of weeks" and led to vendor complaints. Randy Whitehead, Madison's purchasing agent, had a few problems when that city purchased T-shirts for firefighters.

Zielinski concedes his proposal "will not be easy" initially but believes eventually it will be worth the effort. We tend to agree, especially as the movement to purchase such items spreads and pressure mounts on contractors.

Ed Huck, executive director of the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities, says it's clear that "economic sanctions as a vehicle for change do work" and adds that "it's not unusual for local government to push for change through ordinances."

Zielinski points out that his proposal, like that in California and other places, appropriately puts the onus on vendors to swear in affidavits that the products they are selling were not produced with sweatshop labor.

Effectively monitoring these matters can be a challenge. But as both Zielinski and officials in California note, there already are a number of non-profit, sweat-free organizations and coalitions with the expertise to assist purchasing directors searching for vendors and contractors that meet the sweat-free standards.

California and many communities already rely heavily on these groups, including the Workers Rights Consortium, the Fair Labor Coalition, Sweatfree Communities and the National Labor Committee.

Zielinski has modified his proposal. To simplify matters for purchasing officials and vendors, it would apply only to primary contractors and their subcontractor. That doesn't answer all of the concerns, but like the proposal itself, it's definitely a move in the right direction.

All of Wisconsin's municipalities should consider such a code.