Travis County Commissioners Court
January 29, 2008
Item 2
Number 2 is to approve proclamation supporting procurement of goods from vendors maintaining safe and legal operations. Comuftder eckhardt? -- Commissioner eckhardt?
>> I値l read the proclamation and then I understand reverend cheatham is here to say a few words. A resolution of the Travis County Commissioners court whereas Travis County is appalled by manufacturing conditions that allow long hours, hazardous conditions and the use of hazardous chemicals and the use of other toxic chemicals to exist without the use of proper protections for the employees of the companies that make the products and whereas Travis County supports the fair treatment of workers, including compliance with the following federal and Texas statutes as applicable. The fair labor standards act, which limits child labor, requires paint for overtime work at the rate of time and a half, establishes a minimum hourly wage and provides other fair labor standards. Occupational health and safety act, which I知 proud to say my father worked on. Which requires safe working conditions related to the manner in which toxic substances are used, the provision of appropriate safety equipment and the existence of safety practices and procedures in all projects. The various united states and Texas laws prohibiting discrimination and harassment based on age, gender, race, religion, disability, national origin in relation to any aspect of employment, including hiring, wages, benefits, promotion or discipline. And whereas Travis County strongly supports those organizations promoting these values as their mission. Now therefore be it resolved that the Travis County Commissioners court values in making purchases for the operations of the various county offices and requests that the purchasing office include all appropriate requests for information in the solicitation distributed to vendors of apparel to allow Travis County to exercise the fullest scope of its authority in this regard in its purchasing process.
>> second.
>> let me just say a couple of word to clarify that. That's a lot of wore. Essentially what we're talking about is -- not to mince words. We're talking about indentured servitude in the apparel industry. Not only in other countries, but it also occurs here. Indentured servitude is not dead abroad or in the united states. And we cannot turn a blind eye and say, well, I just didn't know as we purchase our garments. It's very difficult for a consumer to become knowledgeable about where their clothes are made, but it is a little bit easier for institutional purchasers. So as an institutional purchaser, it is the moral thing to do for us to make the effort to know where and under what conditions the garments that we purchase are being made. Are listening as individual consumers to surf the net a little bit and get a little knowledge about how our clothing is made. There's a reason why we have cheap clothes in wal-mart, k-mart, target, sears, jc penny's, all places I致e shopped as well. And we can't turn a blind eye. That our purchasing is making indentured servitude not only possible, but giving it an incentive to proliferate abroad and in this country. So that's enough by me.
>> do we have instances where Travis County is purchasing uniforms and other products that are made in these sweat shops?
>> no. When this issue came up several months ago, my office started working with barbara and the county attorney's office and our main uniform supplier is miller uniforms here in Austin. We've used him for years and years and years. And we contacted bob miller and he had his manufacturer send us their anti-sweat policy. So we're fortunate in Travis County that we have been buying from a contractor whose manufacturers have anti-sweat policies. So we've been fortunate in that arena. And what this will do is we'll work with barbara to put more language into the solicitations confirming that that is our preference. Reverend cheatham. She's here to say a couple of wore.
>> thank you. Wally, I believe I -- actually, I believe I could just turn the floor back over to you, Commissioner eckhardt. Thank you for your words and passion and thank you for your time. I知 here as a part of the Travis County sweat-free coalition. I知 also the executive director of the religion and labor network of Austin, and we are a member of this coalition. Coming from the faith perspective, as you probably know, virtually every faith tradition has within its sacred text writings that call upon persons to treat people fairly, with respect and dignity and to give them a fair wage for their labors and to make certain that they are treated as one of the created. And so while it is very easy to turn a blind eye on those whom we do not see, it is incumbent upon us to find ways that we can make certain that our money is not going towards clothing purchases that are being used to support sweat shop labor. This movement began back in the 1980's with college students who realized that their local apparel that they wore proudly for their universities and colleges were being made quite often in sweat shop conditions. Not just in other countries, but also in sweat shops that do still exist in the united states and the american samoas and other places. So purchasing something that says naid america tag, does not guarantee that it's not being made with sweat shop labor. That movement grew and we adults began to take notice of what the students had found out, and so a growing national movement, the national sweat-free communities, has been encouraging groups, municipalities across the country to become a part of this movement. And the idea is to then establish a monitoring coalition that would be able to monitor these vendors and subcontractors to make certain that the factories that we are working with are not mistreating workers with overly long hours, unsafe working conditions and simple inhumane treatment. The atrocities are horrendous. If you do a search for the national sweat-free communities you can find more information there. Last June the city of Austin became the very first municipality within the state of Texas to join this nationwide movement. And over the last several months the sweat-free Austin movement became the Travis County sweat-free movement as we began working with Commissioner eckhardt and cid and others in calling upon this court to approve this proclamation to make certain that we follow our values and that we honor workers not just here, but abroad because the polite of workers in Travis County -- the plight of workers in Travis County is tied to that of workers around the globe and that case can be made economically as well as morally. And so we call upon this court, we thank you for your interest and for your passion, but we hope that not only will you pass this proclamation, but that you will work hard to make certain that when you -- judge and Commissioners and purchasing agents are no longer hiewr that Travis County will -- no longer here that, Travis County will have a procedure that's followed so that this proclamation will actually be turned into real action that will make tremendous differences with workers around the globe. It was found with the city of Austin that one of our largest suppliers did have some labor infractions or some concerns as far as breaking labor laws. And so it is possible even within our city and county that without knowing it, we could be contracting with folks. And so becoming a part of the national sweat-free communities and setting up this monitoring agency to make certain that the well intentioned proclamations or the vendor policies that contractors may without knowing it be subcontracting with factories that are breaching labor laws and providing inhumane work conditions, so we need to make certain that we not just pass this proclamation, but truly put it into action and support the nationwide movement by helping bring about this monitoring agency that can make certain that despite our good intentions thatnr subcontractors aren't slipping in without our knowledge. Mistreatment of workers. So we need to make certain that we become a part of this movement, not just in word, but also in action. So we are incredibly grateful and we applaud your actions and we look forward to working with you in the coming weeks and months to make certain that this is a reality for Travis County. This coalition, Travis County sweat-free campaign is made up of 24 local organizations, including the religion and labor network of Austin, the Texas fair trade coalition, the Austin central labor council as well as more than 25 to 30 local faith leaders in the Austin and Travis County area. And you see here persons standing behind me as I speak, and this is a group of dedicated persons who believe in this and who represent hundreds of persons across our county who believe in this. And so again we thank you for your time. Any questions you may have, we're grateful to answer. And again, we look forward to working with you to make this a reality in the coming months. Thank you.
>> questions?
>> I have a question. What websites can people go to individually as consumers to become educated about their own clothing purchasing choices?
>> the national sweat-free communities as I mentioned a moment ago. And I believe it is nationalsweatfreecommunities .org. Sweatfree.org. That is one of the places. It's something to note that this group, this campaign began with two individuals, a young couple who began wondering about the clothing that they were wearing and in their closets and began looking on the websites, found this information, came to Texas fair trade coalition where mark jacobson is now the director. Leslie ramsey was there at the time. And she and others began work to go investigate this. And so any questions that y'all have, sweatfree.org is a good place to go and there are many other resources both locally and on the internet.
>> does sweatfree.org also give consumers information regarding sweat shop conditions in food production?
>> I don't think they're at that point.
>> that also is another area where we're seeing economic incentives toward inden indentud servitude.
>> there are other campaigns that are working in that area. The poultry workers project that are working on that. And many of our organizations are part of that as well.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic].
>> I知 leslie ramsey with the religion and labor network of Austin. And the Travis County sweat-free coalition. It's in the apparel industry that there's been the most organizing and monitoring of working conditions around the world, so that's basically what we've all started with here is sort of starting with apparel where there's the best infrastructure for monitoring and enforcement and hopefully moving on to other areas like food service.
>> questions? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> [ applause ]
>> so far we have raised a little bit less than $60,000. The deadline now is January 31st. And that is the absolute final deadline for this year. I壇 like to encourage those who have not given yet to do so between now and five p.m. On Thursday of this week, which is January 31st. There is still a great need for health and human services in our community, and the nonprofit agencies that work in the various areas do an outstanding job, but they need funds to continue doing so. So please give what you can.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 8:09 PM