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What is the Proposed San Antonio SweatFree Ordinance? The proposed San Antonio sweatfree ordinance would apply to city garment purchases. It would require the city to buy only from contractors and subcontractors who do not engage in sweatshop abuses, defined by the U.S. Department of Labor as violations of two or more of the most basic labor laws. These include sexual abuse or intimidation, fire safety or illegal workplace hazards, wage and overtime violations, or the use of child, indentured or slave labor.  The city would work with an independent monitoring agency to follow-up on worker complaints and ensure compliance.

Why Does San Antonio Need A SweatFree Ordinance? Each year, the City of San Antonio spends a significant amount of taxpayer money for garment purchases - yet our current process does not evaluate vendors for sweatshop abuses, despite evidence from an independent monitoring agency that at least one of the city's suppliers has contracted from factories cited for sweatshop abuses. By adopting a sweatfree ordinance, San Antonio will make an enforceable commitment to responsible contracting and will ensure that public funds are used only for legal and humane workplaces that reflect the values of our community.
For more information, please read theSubsidizing Sweatshops report -- http://www.sweatfree.org/subsidizing

Will This Really Make A Difference? One shopper alone can’t change sweatshops. But large institutional purchasers have the power to gain the attention of manufacturers and contractors, prompting reform in a way that individual consumers cannot. When independent monitoring agencies have cited foreign factories for abuses, many have taken steps to reform their practices. More than 50 cities and counties nationwide have already adopted sweatfree policies – and the power to end sweatshop abuses grows with each city that joins the effort.  Just this past June, the Austin City Council unanimously passed a sweatfree ordinance, paving the way for other Texas cities to follow.

How Much Will It Cost To Do the Right Thing?  The Workers Rights Consortium currently monitors factory conditions around the world for over 150 universities.  The State and Local Government Sweatfree Consortium is currently being launched to serve the same purpose as an independent monitor for cities and states.  Under this model, cities would share monitoring costs by contributing 1% of their total garment purchases, with a minimum of $5,000 per city. The total garment budget for San Antonio is not yet available, but the comparable number for Austin is approximately $2 million a year, which will make its annual fee about $20,000 – less than 4 cents per city resident per year.

How Does This Impact Workers in San Antonio?
The impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement and growing competition from China have made clear that San Antonio jobs and wages are directly tied to the global economy and the rules by which it is governed.  With NAFTA’s passage, many factories in San Antonio moved to Mexico including the Levi-Strauss plant in south San Antonio.  And those factories have since gone to China or elsewhere.  A city that for years was marketed as a source of cheap labor was outdone by even cheaper labor in Mexico, Central America, China and India.  What this illustrates is that the only way to create and sustain higher wage jobs here is to make sure that we lift up the lot of workers around the world.  This proposed San Antonio sweatfree ordinance would be a crucial first step in that direction.