By Lisa Leff

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco supervisors unanimously

approved a new law Tuesday that requires city contractors

to guarantee in writing that the uniforms, computers and

other goods they supply were not made by workers exploited

in so-called "sweatshops."

By signing the "sweat-free code of conduct," manufacturers

and wholesalers that do business with the city would be

promising that their workers are paid the local minimum

wage, have the right to unionize and enjoy safe working

conditions. The pledge also vouches that no child labor,

foreign convict or slave labor was used to produce the

merchandise that winds up in San Francisco hospitals, fire

stations and City Hall offices.

The cities of Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Newark, N.J. and

Albuquerque, N.M., already have anti-sweatshop laws on the

books. But Valerie Orth, who campaigned for the ordinance

as part of the international human rights group Global

Exchange, said San Francisco's law goes the furthest

because it includes an initial $100,000 for enforcement

and a stricter definition of what constitutes a sweatshop.

Companies with one major violation of the conduct code

would be disqualified from future contracts.

The purpose of the pledge is not to force the city to

switch contractors, but to use the municipal government's

$600 million in purchasing power to effect change at

existing factories, according to Orth.

"All of this is going to rest on a test case," she said.

"Once we find a company that signs the code of conduct and

then violates it by say hiring a subcontractor in Honduras

where the union is busted, the city of San Francisco can

say, 'You signed this code ... you have to let the workers

organize."

The law, introduced by Supervisor Tom Ammiano and Mayor

Gavin Newsom, is scheduled to take effect in 90 days.

During its first year, it will only apply to the garment

industry, such as contractors who supply uniforms, sheets

and towels. An advisory committee will decide what

category of contractors to target next.

As part of the registration process, contractors who sign

the sweatshop-free pledge would have to disclose the names

of their subcontractors, where their factories and located

and what workers are paid.

Randall Harris, executive director the garment industry

trade group San Francisco Fashion Industries, said that

out of the fewer than 200 companies producing apparel in

San Francisco, none are under city contract. Harris said

he nonetheless opposed the ordinance because he thinks it

puts the industry in a bad light.

"We need support in the city and county for the industry

we have left here," he said. "We don't need the city of

San Francisco perpetuating a belief that our industry is

somehow dirty. We have worked very hard to clean it up."