www.upn31.com

LA City Council calls for anti-sweatshop policy on city uniforms

By DAISY NGUYEN
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) The City Council agreed Wednesday to take a close look at where it buys its uniforms for police officers, firefighters and other city employees to make sure it isn't supporting sweatshops.

``The public's money should not be used to subsidize sweatshops,'' said Councilman Eric Garcetti, who sponsored a motion calling for a study of where the city buys its uniforms and just how much it spends.

The 90-day study, to be undertaken by a group made up of city officials and business and labor leaders, could prompt the city to change vendors if it is discovered any deal with sweatshops.

The group will also propose a policy for monitoring clothing companies, Garcetti said.

``We want the employees of city of Los Angeles to be proud of the uniform they wear,'' he said.

Charles Kernaghan, director of the New York-based National Labor Committee, said there has not been such large scale action against sweatshops since New York City passed a similar ordinance in 2001.

``This is very exciting,'' said Kernaghan. ``This is a real breakthrough, an enormous step forward. Los Angeles is the world's fifth- or sixth-largest economy. This will definitely have an impact.''

The council approved Garcetti's motion unanimously after hearing from two women who said their employers in Bangladesh forced them to work long hours and paid them very little.

``I have worked 450 hours last month, including 13 nights,'' Mahmuda Akter said. ``And all that I got was 2,100 takas, which is about $35.''

Garcetti said his effort is similar to New York's action last year, which resulted in legislation prohibiting the purchase of uniforms from textile contractors who cannot prove they pay decent wages.

``We will be trying to create a legislation that not only will make the city have to buy apparel that complies with certain minimum standards, but also allow us to enforce it,'' said attorney Adalila Zelada, who is helping write the ordinance.

The sweatshop industry in Los Angeles employs about 140,000 mostly undocumented workers, most of them girls or women, who are paid below minimum wage, said Erica Zeitlin, associate director of the Los Angeles office of No More Sweat Shops!

``This is a very major step forward in abolishing sweatshop conditions in the capital of sweatshops,'' Zeitlin said.

(