City Council Votes for a Sweatfree Ashland

SOUTHERN OREGON JOBS WITH JUSTICE, 17.12.2008 12:16

Ashland, Oregon - December 16, 2008

It was unanimous when the vote came down at the Ashland City Council's 12/16/08 meeting. All councilors voted "Yes" in support of "A RESOLUTION FOR A SWEATSHOP FREE PROCUREMENT POLICY" which is for the uniforms and garments the city purchases with public dollars...

Watch the debate and the vote by the Ashland City Council, streaming video...
 http://www.ashland.or.us/Page.asp?NavID=745
(under "City Council Meetings" click on "December 16, 2008")
Note* The meeting is 3 hrs.15 mins. long. & the Sweatfree Resolution is at 2 hrs. 15 mins., about 2/3rds way through

The Ashland Sweatfree Campaign ad-hoc committee is comprised of the following Ashland residents: Brenda Gould, Jason Houk, Rich Rohde, Steve Ryan, Pam Vavra, Wes Brain and Councilor Eric Navickas.

The Ashland Sweatfree Campaign has been a project of Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice (SOJwJ). Working in collaboration with SOJwJ has been "Sweatfree Northwest" and the campaign has included lobby visits with Mayor John Morrison and with individual city councilors. In addition it has been a community education campaign with the recent screening of the Emmy award winning documentary "Made In LA". The film was shown at Southern Oregon University which had as co-sponsors & campus hosts the Women's Studies Program and the Women's Resource Center... See local "Made In LA" story here:  http://rogueimc.org/en/2008/11/14168.shtml

THE RESOLUTION, WHAT IT CALLS FOR.....

City of Ashland staff have six months to come up with the policies and procedures to insure a "no sweatshop procurement policy" and bring it back to City Council. The city currently spends $80,000 a year for uniform and garment purchases according to City Administrator Martha Bennett. Bennett did say during the council meeting that Ashland would rely heavily on the ordinance developed and adopted October '08 in Portland Oregon. Learn about the Portland ordinance here: http://rogueimc.org/en/2008/10/14023.shtml

REFERENCE LINKS

Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice
 http://www.sojwj.org

Sweatfree Communities
 http://www.sweatfree.org


Here is the wording of last nights resolution passed by the Ashland City Council:

RESOLUTION NO. 2008- _____

A RESOLUTION FOR A SWEATSHOP FREE PROCUREMENT POLICY

Recitals:

A. The City spends approximately, $85,000 annually in public funds on uniforms and clothing.

B. Some vendors of uniforms and clothing obtain clothing through their supply chain from contractors that utilize sweatshop labor.

C. “Sweatshop Labor” means serious and repeated violations of laws of the jurisdiction where the work is performed or violations of core labor rights as defined by the International Labor Organization pertaining to non-poverty wages; employee benefits; health and safety, including exposure to hazardous toxic substances; labor, including collective bargaining rights; environmental conditions; nondiscrimination, harassment or retaliation, including laws prohibiting workplace and employment discrimination; freedom of association, and building and fire codes. In addition, it includes work performed by any person under a contract or subcontract that constitutes foreign convict or forced labor or abusive forms of child labor or slave labor.

D. Contractors who engage in such serious and repeated violations are not “responsible” contractors as defined by ORS 279C.375(3) because such contractors do not have a satisfactory record of performance or a satisfactory record of integrity.

E. The City does not wish to purchase goods and services that depend on sweatshop conditions that deprive people of their legal rights and dignity.

F. The City Council wishes to ensure that the firms it contracts with to provide uniforms and clothing act with integrity and follow applicable local laws of the country of production and International Labor Organization standards, and that other subcontractors in the uniform and clothing supply chain also act with integrity and follow the local labor laws and International Labor Organization standards (hereafter referenced as “Sweat Free Procurement”).

G. The City Council wishes to ensure the integrity of its procurement process by not using contractors or subcontractors who engage in Sweatshop Labor practices. Such practices place responsible contractors at a competitive disadvantage and dissuade them from doing business with the City.

H. By adopting this resolution, the City Council does not preclude the City or its contractors or subcontractors from doing business with any foreign country.

I. Sweat Free procurement is a form of ethical purchasing.

J. There is a proposed State and Local Government Sweat Free Consortium that would investigate and address working conditions of uniform and clothing suppliers’ factories through worker outreach and education, independent monitoring of working conditions, and by leveraging buying power on behalf of government entities affiliated with the Consortium.

THE CITY OF ASHLAND RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. The City Council wishes to create and implement a detailed Sweat Free Uniform and Clothing Procurement Policy.

SECTION 2. City staff will develop a policy for City Council approval within six months.

SECTION 3. The City supports the creation of the State and local Government Sweat Free Consortium to collaborate with other public agencies to share information and cost of independent monitoring of working conditions in supplier factories. The City Council intends on becoming a member of this Consortium after it is created.

SECTION 6. This resolution was duly PASSED and ADOPTED this 16th day of December, 2008, and takes effect upon signing by the Mayor.

_____________________________
Barbara Christensen, City Recorder

SIGNED and APPROVED this day of , 2008.

_________________________
John W. Morrison, Mayor
Reviewed as to form:

__________________________
Richard Appicello, City Attorney

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ADT: Anti-sweatshop policy endorsed 17.12.2008 - 15:35 From the Ashland Daily Tidings:  http://www.dailytidings.com/2008/1217/stories/1217_sweatshop.php December 17, 2008 "Anti-sweatshop policy endorsed" By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings The City Council voted unanimously to take steps to make sure that the $80,000 the city spends each year on uniforms doesn't go to support sweatshops. On Tuesday night, the council passed a resolution directing city staff to develop a sweatshop-free policy and bring it before the council for approval within six months. The city will also support a budding consortium of more than 180 state and local governments that will monitor factory conditions for consortium members. Dues to the consortium are estimated to cost the city about 1 percent of its uniform and clothing budget, or about $800 annually. Because labor makes up only 1 to 3 percent of the cost of clothing, adopting sweat-free policies doesn't significantly increase the cost to buyers, advocates said. They estimated the price of a $30 pair of overalls would only increase to $30.60 if it came from a sweatshop-free source. The City Council decided not to form an ad hoc committee of local residents to draft the sweatshop-free policy as workers' right advocates had sought. Ashland Finance Director Lee Tuneberg, the city's purchasing agent, would have had to attend the committee's meetings and another city staff member would have had to take minutes. "My belief is that staff is best equipped to do this," Councilor Russ Silbiger said. "An ad hoc committee would add more to the workload." City Administrator Martha Bennett said city staff will still draw on the expertise of the groups that brought the issue before the council. Ashland will also look to Portland, which adopted its own sweatshop-free rule this fall. "We're not going to reinvent the wheel," she said. Labor, religious and student groups are working to get similar resolutions passed across the country. Wes Brain, an Ashland resident and chair of Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice, said he would have liked to see members of his group and other local organizations tapped to sit on an ad hoc committee for the city. But he said he was pleased with the council's action anyway. "It's a good step in the right direction," he said. According to a preliminary review by city staff, city departments are probably already buying uniforms from sources that don't use sweatshop labor. One of the Ashland Police Department's suppliers is located right in Salem, said Police Chief Terry Holderness. "We called all our suppliers. They assured us they were sweatshop-free and would provide documentation," he said. Advocates define sweatshops as factories that repeatedly violate the laws in the countries where they are based and also flout internationally recognized labor laws. The groups supporting workers' rights plan to ask the Oregon Legislature to adopt a sweatshop-free resolution for state government, said Brenda Gould, secretary of Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice. Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 479-8199 or  vlaldous@yahoo.com.  http://www.dailytidings.com/2008/1217/stories/1217_sweatshop.php Mainstream Media Reports> Homepage:: http://