For the past several years, area college students have organized campus protests to ensure that school merchandise, such as baseball caps and T-shirts, isn’t made using sweatshop labor. The next anti-sweatshop target — if Boston city councilor Mike Ross of the Fenway has his way — will be the city’s police and firefighter uniforms. Next Wednesday, the council’s committees on government operations and labor will hold a public hearing to discuss strategies for making sure the city doesn’t buy sweatshop-produced apparel. In April, Mayor Tom Menino suggested that the council adopt a 1973 state law (which municipalities have the option of following) that requires garment manufacturers dealing with the city to pay a “prevailing wage.” That figure is now set by the city’s purchasing department in collaboration with the Living Wage Advisory Committee, which monitors Boston’s 1998 living-wage ordinance. The ordinance guarantees a minimum of $9.11 per hour to employees who work for businesses with city contracts of $100,000 or more.

Because the 1973 law doesn’t have any enforcement mechanism, Ross has proposed a related measure that would expand the living-wage bill to cover all employees manufacturing uniforms for the city, regardless of the size of their company’s contract, and place compliance under the purview of the advisory committee. “We have to set an example in government that we’re going to be very careful who we’re purchasing from,” says Ross. “We have a real obligation to make sure we’re not contributing to the inhumane conditions that are so prevalent in sweatshop manufacturers, whether they’re in this country or in Third World countries.”

Activists from the garment workers’ union (known since 1995 as UNITE), as well as students from Harvard’s living-wage campaign and the Jewish labor group Workmen’s Circle, are expected to attend the hearing in support of Ross’s proposal. Justin Holmes of UNITE calls the proposed legislation a “niche where we can promote the idea of worker respect in a global economy.” Four years ago, Boston was one of the first cities in the nation to embrace the concept of a living wage. Today, activists feel that getting the city’s nod to protect garment workers would be a coup for the anti-sweatshop movement. Says Holmes, “We’re hoping not only individuals, but major purchasers, will encourage the industry to change.”

The Boston City Council will hold a public hearing on sweatshop manufacturing this Wednesday, July 18, at 5 p.m. in the council chambers on the fifth floor of Boston City Hall.

Issue Date: July 12 - 19, 2001