April 13—After a spirited campaign by a coalition of unions, religious groups and students, the Los Angeles school board unanimously passed a motion requiring suppliers to guarantee that workers making goods sold to the school system are not paid poverty wages in sweatshop conditions. The comprehensive anti-sweatshop measure ensures companies doing business with the school system disclose where and how the products are made.
With more than 700 schools serving 746,000 students across 704 square miles, the Los Angeles Unified School District spends more than $500 million on goods each year—from soccer balls to uniforms to pencils.
“There is no excuse for the district to spend a single taxpayer dollar on any product manufactured by child labor or sweatshop labor,” says David Tokofsky, the school board member who spearheaded the measure, which he says is the most comprehensive policy of its kind passed by any public agency in the country. Union activists, clergy and immigrant workers built support for the measure and spoke at the school board’s public hearings.
The victory in Los Angeles builds on recent wins in other cities and states. On March 18, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) signed an executive order banning state agencies from contracting with companies that use sweatshop labor to make or launder such apparel as uniforms.
211 Million Children Work Worldwide
Millions of workers worldwide in garment, manufacturing and service industries toil in sweatshops, where they face crushingly low wages, hazardous working conditions, abusive discipline and no rights on the job. Unethical employers also exploit child labor. The International Labor Organization estimates 211 million children ages 5 to 14 worldwide were working in 2000. In addition, more than 1 million men, women and children are victims of human trafficking as employers coerce workers into sweatshop labor, according to the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (AFL-CIO Solidarity Center).
The anti-sweatshop movement began in colleges some six years ago, as college students formed United Students Against Sweatshops and successfully fought for regulations at more than 100 campuses mandating logo-bearing apparel be made under fair conditions. Activists expanded their campaigns to educational institutions at all levels. Several years ago, New York Gov. George Pataki (R) signed laws allowing school districts and public universities to implement their own anti-sweatshop legislation, which many have done.
In Pennsylvania, the recent executive order banning state agencies from contracting with companies that use sweatshop labor helps the state’s economy by giving contractors “a fair chance to compete for Commonwealth contracts without being undercut by sweatshops where workers are abused,” says Lynne Fox, a vice president of UNITE and manager of the union’s Philadelphia Joint Board.
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