Number
061576
Version
SUBSTITUTE 1
Reference
Sponsor
ALD. ZIELINSKI
Title
Substitute resolution supporting passage of federal anti-sweatshop legislation.
Analysis
In June, 2006, the “Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act” was introduced by United States Senator Byron Dorgan (ND), Senate Bill 3485, and a companion bill, House Resolution 5635, was introduced by Representative Sherrod Brown (OH), which would ban the importation or sale of products made in factories under sweatshop conditions and enable retailers and investors to file civil actions against manufacturers for violations of the act.
For purposes of the bill, “sweatshop conditions” violate the core International Labor Organization’s labor rights standards of no child labor, no forced labor, freedom of association, right to organize and bargain collectively and to decent working conditions. The import ban deals only with goods that can be proven to have been made with sweatshop labor and is not a ban of products based on the country of origin.
This resolution supports passage of the Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act, conditioned upon amending the current legislation so that any bill that is passed by Congress is at least equivalent to policies already enacted by the City of Milwaukee, including requiring all retailers and vendors to disclose names and addresses of factories where the products they sell are made, and including a non-poverty wage requirement. It also expresses the finding of the Common Council that any federal anti-sweatshop legislation should extend the right to file civil actions beyond retailers and investors, so that employees, unions and human rights groups may also bring actions against manufacturers, and should include language which directs companies to improve conditions upon determination of a workplace violation, rather than moving to another location.
Body
Whereas, In the global marketplace violations of workers’ rights are widespre...
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