State panel OKs sweatshop ban bill

April 3, 2008  Rutland Herald

By Daniel Barlow, Vermont Press Bureau

MONTPELIER — Vermont is on track to become the seventh state in the country to ban the government purchase of clothing and other materials that are manufactured in overseas sweatshops.

The odyssey of H.338, a bill that sets a purchasing code of conduct for Vermont government, began as a dream for a group of Brattleboro high school students and has quickly swept through most of the legislative process in a matter of months.

On Wednesday, members of the school's Child Labor Education and Action Project saw their proposal pass the Senate Government Operations Committee in a 5-0 vote. It is expected to easily be approved by the full Senate in less than a week before going to Gov. James Douglas for his signature.

"Our goal is to end taxpayer support for worker exploitation," explained Fiona Mahurin, a senior at Brattleboro Union High School who testified before the committee Wednesday.

If signed into law, Vermont would join Maine, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California as the only states requiring that clothing and textiles — ranging from State Police uniforms to towels and sheets for prisoners — be manufactured in worker-friendly environments.

The bill requires contractors with the Vermont state government to assure that the materials they are providing the government with are made under ethical business conditions. The state could take remedial action against a company found to be violating that standard.

"We wouldn't be changing suppliers as much as we might be pushing them to get better working conditions in the factories that they buy from," explained Tiffany Fink-Haynes, a CLEA member and senior at the high school.

Robin Orr, the director of internal services at the Department of Buildings and General Services, the agency that purchases "anything you can hold in your hand" for the state government, told senators Wednesday that the proposed new requirements would be "fairly simple" to implement.

If approved, this new condition would be added to 31 other contract conditions the state has for its suppliers, she explained.

"We are not anticipating any increase in price or difficulty in obtaining the materials we need," said Orr, who also praised the students for bringing the measure forward.

CLEA members have worked on the language of the bill with its sponsor, Rep. Sarah Edwards, P-Brattleboro, for nearly two years. The measure passed the House Government Operations Committee in February and later easily gained approval from that full chamber.

Some members of CLEA recently saw first hand what they are trying to end. The students visited a sweat shop in Nicaragua where workers were manufacturing fleeces that would later be sold by top retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target, according to Mahurin.

Almost immediately after entering the building, the students began smelling noxious fumes and developed headaches, she said. A sign on the wall on the shop reminded workers that they needed to wear masks while putting together the clothing that many Americans would later buy.

"But the company doesn't supply these masks to their workers," Mahurin said.

That was in sharp contrast with the conditions students saw at another shop that is considered fair trade as opposed to free trade. Mahurin said workers at that shop had great ventilation and they were smiling and chatting while they worked.

Students also got a glimpse at another part of the legislative process Wednesday — committee amendments to bills. Senators made some minor tweaks to the language based on testimony that morning from Tasha Wallis, the executive director of the Vermont Retail Association.

Wallis was worried that local companies contracting with the state would have a difficult time proving that all the materials in the merchandise came from sweatshop-free workplaces.

"I think you'll end up with contractors saying, 'I don't know,'" she said.

The students agreed to the change and the senators easily passed an amendment that now requires the contracted company to get assurances from their manufacturers instead.

"You are all to be congratulated," Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, committee chairwoman, told the students.

Contact Daniel Barlow at Daniel.Barlow[at]rutlandherald[dot]com