Allegheny county sweatshops
Submitted on Sat, 03/24/2007 - 2:33pm
(Pictured: right): Left to right – PA Deputy Secretary of Procurement Curtis Topper continues to play a leadership role on behalf of the Rendell administration, Tim Stevens is the Chairman of the Black Political Empowerment Project. He facilitated the afternoon discussions between anti sweatshop activists/UNITE HERE representatives and procurement officers. Will Anderson of the Black Political Empowerment Project and the PA League of Young Democrats. Charlyn Moten is a member of AFSCME, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and the Indiana Labor Center. Barney Oursler is with the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee. Celeste Taylor is a co-founder of the Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance and serves on the SweatFree Communities Governing Board. She is also the Vice Chair of B-PEP. Kenneth Miller is a PASCA co-founder and a delegate with the Pittsburgh GMB of the Industrial Workers of the World.Allegheny County Anti Sweatshop Ordinance – Wage Disclosure push on March 29 on Harrisburg, PA
Posted below is a link to the March 2, 2006 Allegheny County Council transcript. The first section is the public comment section where Kenneth Miller spoke to the issue. The second is the debate, discussion and ultimately unanimous vote in favor of an anti sweatshop ordinance for Allegheny County. It was later signed by they county executive Dan Onorato. March 6 was the same night that the County Council agreed to its part in the City/County Purchasing Agreement. An invitation to attend a national meeting of elected officials and procurement officers in Harrisburg on March 29 to discuss the implementation of anti sweatshop legislation has been extended to both Tim Johnson and Councilman Bill Robinson.
The City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and the State of Pennsylvania will be coordinating their efforts with 70 other jurisdictions from across the country. Shortly after the March 29 meeting, the first initiative will be to standardize disclosure forms to require factory locations and wage disclosure. We expect the industry to resist this and coordinated response is the best way to insure our success and force factory locations and wage disclosures to become an industry standard. These wage disclosures are important, even though our experience tell us that many companies will lie, we can begin a process of verification that directly involves workers and our communities.
All of the issues articulated by legislators here are typical of what anti sweatshop activists can expect in other places. When we are able to get a vote… most legislators are hard pressed to vote against anti sweatshop legislation. Organize for legitimate/vetted legislation and push for a vote!
The full official transcript can be read at http://www.county.allegheny.pa.us/council/meetings.asp. The ordinance is attached. The best resource for model anti sweatshop legislation is www.sweatfree.org