Hall Monitor: The Anti-Vandals
August 29, 2007-- Combined coverage of the Portland Sweatfree Campaign in the Portland Mercury
Hall Monitor: The Anti-Vandals, by Scott Moore
August 30 - September 5, 2007
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Speaking of exploited teens! It looks like the city will finally move forward on a plan to buy all city products from suppliers who don't use sweatshop labor. Sam Adams' office and the Sweat-Free Coalition have come to an agreement—city council will create a policy group that will come up with a final ordinance, and the city will give $20,000 to Sweatfree Communities Inc., a consortium that will monitor the city's suppliers.
Sweatfree Resolution Goes Before City Council This Morning
Posted by Scott Moore on Wed, Aug 29 at 8:29 AM
At the start of this morning's session, a three-person city council is set to hear and vote on a long-discussed Sweatfree Resolution. The policy has been in the works for at least a year, with sweatfree activists and Sam Adams' office frequently having a hard time agreeing on many of its details.
Last week, after the hearing date had been set, both sides were able to come to a compromise…for now. Instead of coming forward with a final ordinance, which would become law, Adams is presenting a resolution that states the intent of the city—to not buy products made in sweatshops—creates a policy work group that will actually craft the law, and will require suppliers to reveal factory names and locations to the city.
That's all well and good, but there's a brewing controversy, bound to come to a head at this morning's session, over who should be on that policy work group and an oversight committee that will be formed later. The Sweatfree Coalition is concerned that suppliers or other representatives of the textile, apparel, or footwear industries could end up overseeing a policy that impacts them. (Word on the street was that Adams originally wanted to put someone from Nike on the policy work group, which just sounds like a PR nightmare, but that idea has apparently been shelved.)
The resolution does state that anyone who is on the oversight committee has to voluntarily "avoid bidding on city contracts overseen by the Committee during their term of service," but Deborah Schwartz of the Sweatfree Coalition doesn't think that goes far enough—should someone be able to bid for a contract a day or a week after they leave the committee?
There's sure to be some fireworks—the coalition has even flown in some former sweatshop workers to testify—which I'll have updates on later.
Labor Day Comes Early To Portland
Posted by Scott Moore on Wed, Aug 29 at 2:25 PM
Remember when I said this morning that Sweatfree Campaign activists and Sam Adams were set to square off on the issue of letting industry representatives have a say in drafting the Sweatshop-Free Ordinance?
Turns out I was wrong. Surprising everyone in the packed council chamber, Adams said, in response to concerns from activists, that "suppliers will not be on the policy work group. They will be brought in often as 'expert witnesses,' but they won't be voting members of the group."
In case anyone missed that, he summed up: "The group that will be bringing the policy forward will not include any present or future suppliers."
The trick now is to come up with a policy that is actually enforceable. Valerie Orth, the chair of San Francisco's Sweatfree Procurement Advisory Group applauded Portland's move toward a sweatfree policy, but admitted that no—as in, zero—contractors in the city of San Francisco have been able to 100 percent meet that city's sweatfree ordinance, which was passed in 2005. Orth says that's because the city itself doesn't have the market power to change the fact that "sweatshops are the norm, not the exception," when it comes to apparel and textiles.
Heidi Carlson from Foundation Garments (on NE Alberta) got some free advertising just for showing up to testify in favor of the resolution. Adams and Randy Leonard peppered her with questions about her location, hours, products, etc. "Why don't you tell us more about your store?" Adams asked. The lady standing next to me in the back of the room scoffed and said, "He's running for mayor, you know."
Ultimately, the resolution passed 3-0, but the difficult work—crafting the policy—has yet to begin.
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