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New York’s decision to join the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium a giant step towards lessening worker abuse

Justicing, May 2010
In his announcement in December of NY’s affiliation with the national Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium, Governor Paterson said, “I will do everything I can to ensure that state government funds are not used to support sweatshop conditions.”

What a state can actually do has expanded significantly with NY’s membership since a coalition of customers has a much greater impact on business practices than individual governments. A total of nine governments have joined the Consortium as of April 1—four states (NY, PA, ME and WI) and five cities (Ashland and Portland Oregon, Milwaukee, WI, Austin, Texas and San Francisco).

NY’s apparel purchases are on the order of $40 million a year, according to the Office of the State Comptroller--from Department of Corrections uniforms for guards and prisoners, to safety vests for workers on Department of Transportation construction projects, to supplies such as holsters, belts and boots for the State Police.

According to the LRC’s Sweatshop-free Coordinator Jordan Wells, the collective decision to establish relationships with vendors and suppliers will create a large enough market (when the logistics can be worked out) to have a major effect. Today the big actors are moving towards a multi-state, multi-item, sweatshop-free apparel contract that could be utilized by smaller entities such as counties, cities and school districts.

OGS and the Department of Labor will convene stakeholders from relevant agencies, answer questions that remain and finalize a code of conduct for state suppliers in 2010.
“We still don’t know the names and locations of factories that supply New York state,” said Wells. “This is a non-negotiable item in any code of conduct. Increased transparency from suppliers is a requirement of the sweatfree movement.”

NY’s commitment reaches the highest levels. Colleen Crawford Gardner, then Executive Assistant to the Commissioner of the NY Department of Labor, served on the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium’s Interim Steering Committee, established in 2007. She became DoL Commissioner in March. Also, Office of General Services (OGS) Commissioner John Egan deserves special praise for committing to this initiative and putting his able staff to work on questions about implementation, said Wells.

Since the Labor-Religion Coalition initiated its Sweatfree Schools Campaign in 1997 and came together with other organizations to create the national SweatFree Communities in 2003, the anti-sweatshop movement has grown stronger and more united. In addition, our understanding has evolved, said Wells. “It was the commonly held misperception that good factories exist and that public entities could go and start purchasing from them. The truth is that the purchasing practices of major vendors—with low prices and fast turnaround—create sweatshop conditions. Use of a list is less and less a realistic approach.”

“Today, we are approaching a turning point. Consortium members will create a market for products made in humane conditions by workers who earn a local living wage. City and county governments can follow the state’s lead,” said Wells. “The City of Ithaca is moving toward Consortium membership to help them implement the policy that they’ve put on paper.”

Last Updated: 04/26/2010
© Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State