April 25, 2006

April 25, 2006

Toronto's "Responsible Garment Manufacturers (No Sweatshops) Policy" was approved by City Council on April 25 with no objections. According to the City's new policy, "The City of Toronto views sweatshops as morally unacceptable, politically unjust, and economically unwise and does not wish to purchase garments and other apparel goods manufactured goods under such conditions, nor affiliate or do business with corporations that employ such practices." Toronto buys almost $4 million in apparel annually for police, firefighter and TTC uniforms, amongst other things.

The policy requires manufacturers of city apparel and their subcontractors to pay fair wages, respect freedom of association, women's rights and worker health and safety, and forbids the use of child labour, forced labour, excessive hours of work, and discrimination. It also requires manufacturers to disclose where they produce city apparel so that any worker rights violations at those factories may be brought to the attention of the City. Lastly, it instructs the City Treasurer to investigate the potential for collaboration with other jurisdictions on implementation.

• A copy of the Toronto policy is available here.
• To develop a No Sweat policy in your own city, please see "How to Become a No Sweat City"
• Read more about No Sweat campaigns