Uniforms, head gear and footwear worn by Chicago Police officers, firefighters and other city employees could not come from “sweatshops” or be produced using child labor, under a groundbreaking ordinance to be introduced Wednesday.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is joining forces with Chicago Fair Trade, Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th) and his 13 colleagues in the City Council’s Asian-American Caucus on an anti-sweatshop ordinance that could change the way the city purchases millions of dollars in uniforms.
The ordinance will be introduced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting just weeks after the one-year anniversary of a garment industry disaster in Bangladesh that killed 1,129 workers and injured 2,515 others.
It would require the city to purchase uniforms only from those garment vendors who sign affidavits ensuring there are no sweatshops anywhere in their supply chain, including sub-contractors.
