Last Wednesday’s (August 29) city council hearing on a
proposed sweat-free resolution, which would prevent the city and its
contractors from doing business with sweatshops, was filled with joy
and celebration. Anti-sweatshop activists got more than they expected
from Commissioner Sam Adams.

But one looming dark cloud was quickly swept under the rug; during
the hearing, Valerie Orth—the chair of San Francisco’s Sweat-Free
Ordinance Advisory Committee—revealed that not a single
contractor has been able to comply with that city’s two-year-old law.
Indeed, several large contractors (equaling $7.2 million in contracts,
according to the San Francisco Bay Guardian) have been given
exemptions to the ordinance that will last years. In other words, San
Francisco’s anti-sweatshop law—the strictest in the
nation—isn’t being enforced.

At least part of the problem is that many city suppliers (selling
things like workers’ uniforms and shoes) have been reluctant to
disclose the locations of their factories, or their subcontractors’
names and locations. They consider such information a “trade secret” to
keep from competitors, but there’s also the possibility they’re using
the excuse to hide their sweatshop facilities. Whatever the reason,
it’s obviously a major obstacle to enforcement.

Last week, city council voted to create a sweatshop-free policy work
group, which will be formed by Adams and will spend the next year
writing Portland’s eventual ordinance. Adams’ office is taking the
approach that involving suppliers in drafting the policy will lead to a
less adversarial relationship between the city and the
industry—unlike in San Francisco.

But there may already be one logistical problem to that approach:
Adams decided at the last minute to not allow suppliers to be voting
members of the work group; they’ll only be brought in as “expert
witnesses.” His 180-degree switch on the issue was met with shocked
jubilation from the sweat-free activists. But Jeff Baer, the director
of Portland’s Bureau of Purchasing, believes that San Francisco’s
problems, and Portland’s potential problems, are because suppliers
aren’t able to help write the policy.

Still, Baer says that bringing suppliers in as experts should help
create a manageable policy. In the meantime, a nationwide “consortium”
of cities and states with sweat-free policies will be finalized,
representing $100 million in purchasing power, which could be enough to
convince suppliers to change their sweatshop ways.