Fiscal Note
No expenditure is required for this evaluation beyond the reallocation of available staff resources.
Title
Establishing an official city policy that no public funds shall be used in the purchase of goods made under the deplorable, inhumane conditions of a sweatshop and that the Board of Estimates, in conjunction with city staff, evaluate current purchasing decisions and create a purchasing policy to achieve the greatest possible furtherance of this policy no later than July 19, 2005.
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Madison and its residents have long recognized the importance of international human rights and the continuous struggle for human dignity; and,
WHEREAS, across the globe, the basic human rights of workers are violated in an economic race to the bottom that subjugates human dignity to corporate profits; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison is not only a regulator within its own borders but a purchaser of goods and services in the broader marketplace; and,
WHEREAS, the City has previously recognized its responsibility in the market place to spend tax dollars ethically, as demonstrated by the city's living wage ordinance that ensures the city doesn't create poverty-level jobs; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison finds there to be a public interest in avoiding subsidies to vendors and contractors who maintain sweatshop working conditions, including below-subsistence wages; excessively long working hours; unhealthy and unsafe working environments, child, indentured, prison and slave labor; disregard for local and international labor laws and workplace regulations; disregard for fundamental women's rights; and repression of worker's rights to assemble and bargain collectively; and,
WHEREAS, the sweat-free procurement policies of Universities, including our own University of Wisconsin-Madison, in addition to international pressure, have already effected significant, positive changes in the working conditions of many developing countr...
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