WEST TOWN (WBBM Newsradio) -- Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed a new executive order Wednesday that he said will ensure that companies doing business with the city do right by their workers.
"Let's make history, Chicago," he said as he signed the document at the offices of ARISE Chicago, 1700 W. Hubbard St., to cheers from dozens of supporters and progressive aldermen.
The order gives many companies currently doing business with the city 60 days to disclose other government and law enforcement contracts, in addition to whether they've faced complaints involving everything from wage theft to excessive force ... and their compliance with anti-discrimination laws. It also calls on the city to block contracts from companies convicted of workplace violations, and sets up a procurement task force.
Before signing the order, the mayor said it's about making sure that city contractors aren't profiting from relationships that he says are harming working-class Chicagoans.
"Every contract we sign and every public dollar we spend, it's a choice about who we value and whose side are we on," said the mayor. "We're gonna make the rules transparent. We're gonna level the playing field."
The mayor's staff says Chicago is now the biggest American city to join an accountability campaign led by the group "Not With Our Money." Its spokesperson Dorian Warren joined the mayor for the announcement, saying people deserve to know if the city's tax money is going to companies that profit from, for instance, immigration raids.
"Every raid has vendors," he said. "This order puts those deals into the daylight, where all of us can see who is getting the people's money, and what they did to get it."
The mayor said it's not yet clear how this will affect any current city contracts.
Johnson says new order shows city's "heart ... is with workers."
Johnson says new order shows city's "heart ... is with workers."
