Vision
Public procurement is a significant economic force, one that governments can use responsibly to promote a world that reflects the values of its citizens and taxpayers. In the United States there is a tradition of using public procurement both to ensure fair competition and the best prices for public expenditures, and to advance public policy that protects the rights of contracted workers.Sweatfree procurement at its core means that workers who make the products bought by governments enjoy lawful working conditions and wages. The Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium also recognizes that all workers have the right to fully exercise their human and labor rights, and to earn non-poverty wages for work in dignified conditions. While intended to ensure that tax dollars are not spent on products made in sweatshop conditions, sweatfree procurement can also help improve working conditions, strengthen working families and their communities, and create a more secure world. Sweatfree procurement is both a moral imperative and an economic tool for the common good.
As a collaboration of U.S. states, local governments, and other public agencies, the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium helps each entity make sweatfree purchases more effectively and less expensively than any single one could accomplish on its own. As it grows, the sweatfree market will create more qualified vendors and sweatfree workplaces, and help to foster better conditions for increasing numbers of workers. The rules of competition will no longer favor businesses that produce the cheapest possible goods at the expense of workers, but those that provide good value without unlawfully sacrificing humane working conditions and disregarding workers' human and labor rights.
Sweatshops
U.S. government agencies together spend billions of taxpayer dollars each year purchasing uniforms and other apparel for public workers. Unfortunately, tens of millions of workers in the global apparel industry work in sweatshops with poverty wages, forced overtime, and dangerous working conditions. Poor working conditions are also too common in U.S. apparel factories. When governments purchase products made in sweatshop conditions, taxpayers’ dollars inadvertently increase the downward pressure on labor rights, wages, and working conditions, hastening a global race to the bottom which is costing U.S. manufacturing workers their jobs.On the bright side, a growing number of government entities have committed to buy only “sweatfree” products, a step that enjoys strong public support. Sweatfree procurement at its core means that workers who make the products bought by governments enjoy lawful working conditions and wages. The Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium also recognizes that all workers have the right to fully exercise their human and labor rights, and to earn non-poverty wages for work in dignified conditions.
Sweatshop-Free Purchasing
The Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium has two major functions:Connect government purchasers to pre-screened sweatfree suppliers. The Consortium oversees the work of independent monitors in producer countries to verify factory compliance with sweatfree standards, and works with brands and vendors to ensure responsible business practices, including fair pricing, reasonable production scheduling, and long-term business commitments. The Consortium is developing a database of pre-screened sweatfree factories and compliant vendors.
Coordinate complaint-based investigations of working conditions. The Consortium functions as a contact point for worker complaints of code of conduct violations, ensures appropriate dissemination of information, provides forums for discussion of specific cases, and coordinates engagement with vendors and brands to ensure effective remediation of violations.
Operating Principles
Independence and professionalism: The Consortium ensures independence and professionalism in all its activities, avoiding any internal conflict of interest that could arise as a result of improper association with any party that has a financial stake in the industry to be monitored or that could be materially affected by the investigations and activities of the Consortium.Government autonomy: Governments that join the Consortium receive assistance in reaching their own sweatfree purchasing goals, but retain autonomy over policy and practice. The Consortium is governed by a Board of Directors, a majority of whose members are government procurement officials.
Accountability: The Consortium operates transparently and with accountability to its members, maintaining a collaborative process that invites members to shape and oversee programs and activities to ensure they continue to serve evolving needs.
