EDITORIAL – Sweatshops not ideal, but necessary

Yesterday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette contained an article highlighting anti-sweatshop activists… Yesterday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette contained an article highlighting anti-sweatshop activists in Pittsburgh. The activists are working to ensure that nothing the city or county purchases contains components produced in sweatshops.

Their actions are based on a 9-year-old ordinance banning such sweatshop purchases within the city. Currently the ordinance is not fully enforced, but in the coming years it may not even be on the books. Current proposals to merge city and county purchasing functions have made the future of this ordinance uncertain.

On the surface, this action is to be lauded; sweatshops pay their employees pitifully low wages without any form of benefits and house the workers in crowded, often unhygienic spaces. The end products – sneakers, soccer balls, clothing and more – are ultimately sold at prices astronomically higher than what the workers are paid. Seemingly, concerned Pittsburghers have every reason to keep these products out of the city, in support of fairly traded goods.

This would be the ideal, but the reality is that things are not that simple. In order to determine which companies are acceptable to purchase from, the city would have to rely on some form of volunteer task force. The Post-Gazette’s article mentions the difficulty of figuring out exactly which companies use sweatshops or contract work out to other companies that may rely on sweatshop labor. It is unlikely that a group of volunteers, no matter how dedicated, would have access to the information needed to compile a list of acceptable businesses – not to mention the problem of actually getting enough volunteers.

Even if the volunteers were able to produce a comprehensive file of sweatshop-using companies, there would still be problems. Pittsburgh is not a city – and Allegheny County is not a county – with enough of a budget surplus to even think about purchasing what are most often more expensive goods, or about producing these goods in-house.

That one day all uniformed city workers would be clothed in organic cotton outfits sewn by fairly compensated workers is a nice thought – but for now, it simply cannot be a reality. That the ordinance has not been strictly enforced since its inception is an indication that right now, the city is dealing with more pressing concerns.

One day, hopefully, there will be no such thing as a sweatshop. Now, though, sweatshops provide the only form of employment available in many impoverished places. The jobs are far from good, but they are an invaluable source of income to millions of people.

Fairly traded goods are wonderful for the economies of communities around the world. Those who can purchase items marked as “fair trade” absolutely should, and should feel proud of their decision. Right now, unfortunately, this is not a decision the city has the capability to make.