City of Portland pledges to buy no sweatshop apparel
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
The City of Portland added its
name to the list of “sweat-free” gov-
ernments Aug. 29 when City Coun-
cil approved a resolution backed by
a coalition of unions and community
groups.
Under the resolution, a nine-
member committee will hammer out
details of a Sweat-Free Procurement
Policy over the next year, which
would then come back to the Coun-
cil for approval. The way it would
work, all city uniform and apparel
vendors would have to disclose the
name and location of their factories.
Then a multi-government consor-
tium would verify that the goods are
made under humane working condi-
tions. An oversight committee would
report annually on contractors’ com-
pliance with the resolution.
“This is a huge step in making
sure taxpayers in Portland aren’t
paying for poverty wages and inhu-
mane working conditions,” testified
Carol Stahlke, president of Ameri-
can Federation of State, County &
Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
Local 189, the largest of the unions
representing City employees.
“I have 600 members working at
the City of Portland,” added Richard
Beetle, business manager of Labor-
Just outside Portland City Council chambers, “sweat-free” ordinance backers
Margaret Butler of Portland Jobs with Justice and Richard “Buzz” Beetle of
Laborers Local 483 celebrate the measure’s passage.
ers Local 483, which represents city
parks, maintenance and water treat-
ment workers. “When we put on our
uniforms and wear city-supplied hats
and T-shirts, we need to be assured
these products are not produced un-
der sweatshop conditions.”
Governor taps Chamberlain
for Oregon Health Fund Board
SALEM — Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain has been appointed
by Gov. Ted Kulongoski to serve on the Oregon Health Fund Board.
Chamberlain, a firefighter/paramedic who spent more than six years on two dif-
ferent health benefit committees at the City of Portland and the Port of Portland,
will join six others in an effort to develop a plan to reform Oregon’s health care de-
livery system and create more affordable health care for all Oregonians.
Joining Chamberlain on the Board will be Jonathan Ater, an attorney at Ater-
Wynne in Portland; Bill Thorndike, owner of Medford Fabrication in Medford;
Eileen Brady, co-owner of New Seasons Market; retiree Ray Miao of Bend; Mar-
cus Mundy, president of the Urban League of Portland; and Charles Hoffman, a
physician in Baker City.
The board was created by Senate Bill 329, passed in the 2007 legislative session.
The bill states that members shall have experience and expertise in consumer ad-
vocacy, management, finance, labor, health care and represent the geographic and
ethnic diversity of the state. The Senate Rules Committee needs to confirm all ex-
ecutive appointees.
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Lyman Warnock, Broker
503-860-7724
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A sweatshop is a factory that vio-
lates labor and safety laws.
Chie Abad, a former sweatshop
worker in Saipan, Northern Mari-
anas Islands, told City Council about
her experience working 14-hour
days seven days a week in an ap-
parel factory. Workers drank rainwa-
ter, Abad said, and lived in “a
squalid, overcrowded barracks with
a tin roof.” Women who got pregnant
were fired. And that was in a United
States territory, making clothing
marked “Made in USA.”
Abad was later part of a lawsuit
against Liz Claiborne, Calvin Klein,
and other major labels that used the
factory; the brands paid $20 million
back wages in a 2002 out-of-court
settlement. She now works for the
San Francisco-based group Global
Exchange publicizing sweatshop
abuses. Global Exchange also paid
to staff the Portland Sweatfree Cam-
paign.
Portland’s City Council resolu-
tion came about thanks to a year’s
patient labor by the campaign’s or-
ganizer, Deborah Schwartz, who
pulled together the labor-community
coalition and met repeatedly with
city staff and aides to the resolution’s
sponsor, Portland Commissioner
Sam Adams. The campaign col-
lected about 1,000 postcards of sup-
port, and was endorsed by 14 local
unions and over 30 churches and
community groups.
At the hearing, Oregon Labor
Commissioner Dan Gardner, State
Sen. Brad Avakian, and State Rep.
Brad Witt also testified in support.
Even a vendor spoke in favor.
Roger Heldman of Blumenthal Uni-
forms & Equipment testified to City
Council that his company’s police
and fire uniforms are made in union
factories in Kentucky and North
Carolina. Uniforms have been the
last holdout for the American ap-
parel industry, Heldman said, which
otherwise has been almost entirely
displaced by low-wage foreign com-
petition.
With the resolution, Portland
commits to become part of the State
and Local Government Sweetfree
Consortium, to which it will con-
tribute about $20,000 a year — 1
percent of its approximately $2 mil-
lion annual uniform and apparel
budget. The consortium will start
work when it has $100 million in
purchasing power. So far, it’s about a
tenth of the way there, Schwartz
said, with San Francisco and Berke-
ley, California fully on board, and
several other cities and states on the
way.
The Portland resolution was ap-
proved on a 3-0 vote; Commission-
ers Adams, Randy Leonard, and Erik
Sten. Mayor Tom Potter and Com-
missioner Dan Saltzman were away
on vacation.
Sheet Metal Workers Local 16 Members, Officers & Staff
Wish all workers in Oregon & Washington
A safe and happy Labor Day
O FFICE S TAFF
Len Phillips
Delbert Brown
John Candioto
Doug McClaughry
Willy Myers
Joe Harris
Steve Illman
Sharon Allen
Roberta Lundquist
nt
Business Manager
Business Representative nt
Business Representative
Business Representative
Business Representative
Business Development
Business Development
Office Manager
`
Secretary
T RUSTEES
Carrie Barber, Dan Carroll, Jim Philley
A
O FFICERS
Ric Olander
Joe Welter
Dennis Boyd
President
Vice President
Recording Secretary
E XECUTIVE B OARD
Darrell Alcorn, Rick Harrison
Terrance Hills, Joel Hutchinson
Charlie Johnson, Brian Lee
Steve Nunamaker
S it 16
2379 NE 178th Avenue, Suite 16, Portland, Oregon
503-254-0123 • Fax: 503-254-0157 • www.smw16.org
SEPTEMBER 7, 2007
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PAGE 7