The Board of Education declares it to be the policy of the district to refrain from purchasing apparel produced or assembled in a sweatshop. To this end, the Board requires that information on labor standards including but not limited to, employee compensation, working conditions, employee rights to form unions, and the use of child labor be considered in purchasing apparel.

Therefore, the Board authorizes the School Business Official to make a determination that a bidder on a contract for the purchase of apparel is not a responsible bidder based upon either:
1. the labor standards applicable to the manufacture of the apparel including, but not limited to, employee compensation, working conditions, employee rights to form unions and the use of child labor, and/or
2. the bidder's failure to provide information sufficient for the board to determine the labor standards applicable to the manufacture of the apparel.

In addition, the board requires the School Business Official to apply these same criteria, i.e., the evaluation of labor standards and/or the failure to provide information, to apparel purchases which are not required to be competitively bid.

The district will maintain justification and documentation of any determination that an apparel bidder or vendor is not a responsible bidder.

Cross-ref: 6700, Purchasing

Ref: General Municipal Law §§103(12); 104-b(6)

Adoption date:

NOTE: This policy has been developed by the New York State School Boards Association to reflect amendments to the General Municipal Law which authorize Boards of Education to determine that an apparel manufacturer is not a responsible bidder if they do not meet certain employment standards, such as failure to pay wages, violation of child labor laws and workplace safety. This is an optional policy for boards to adopt.

For more information on sweatshop-free purchasing, see the web site of the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition: www.labor-religion.org or call 518/ 213-6000, ext. 6294.