Oregon Public Broadcasting

Portland became the first city in the Northwest to adopt a new sweatshop free ordinance Wednesday. The ordinance means the city will not buy police and firefighter uniforms from suppliers who use sweatshop labor.

It’ll have little effect immediately -- as most city uniforms are already made in the U.S.  But Commissioner Sam Adams says, it’s a good first step.

Sam Adams: “There’s nothing magical or more important about sweat-free conditions for the procurement of apparel. The city procures a lot of other items. And after we figure out how to do this well, I intend to expand the sweat-free expectations to the procurement of other items.”

That could include computers and other things made overseas.

About 180 government entities have taken preliminary steps toward the idea.

A few, like the state of Pennsylvania and the city of Berkeley, California, have already adopted ordinances similar to Portland’s.