Laundry Workers Seek Union

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by Melissa Bailey | Oct 30, 2006 12:34 pm

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Posted to: Business/Labor/ Economic Development, West River

Zuiry Osorio (at left) and Maria Garcia (at right) haul heaps of linens in a balmy room for $8 an hour at a Derby Avenue commercial laundry plant. They don’t have a union. They’re having trouble organizing one, and they’re calling on city aldermen — and the National Labor Relations Board — for help.

Osorio and Garcia work at New England Linen, a commercial laundry company with a plant at 149 Derby Ave. Like the majority of the plant’s roughly 100 workers, they are women of color. They showed up at a meeting of the aldermanic Black and Hispanic Caucus last week to seek help in their quest to unionize for better wages, conditions and benefits.

Starting this summer, workers at the plant kicked off an organizing drive with the help of UNITE HERE, a union representing laundry, hotel and service workers across North America.

Garcia said she started out working at the plant 10 years ago, making $5.15 per hour. She said the high temperatures of the laundry room are hard on her, as she has high blood pressure. “It’s a demanding job.”

Today, 10 years later, she makes only $7.95 per hour. “I’ve given a lot of my life to this facility. … It seems like the clock hasn’t caught up with the cost of living for me,” said Garcia, speaking to the Black and Hispanic Caucus through UNITE HERE translator and union organizer Steve Mathews last week.

Workers say newcomers today start at state minimum wage, currently $7.40 per hour. They say that’s not enough money to keep up with weekly health insurance payments, which can soak up a quarter of their income.

An effort to organize a union this summer met threats from the company, workers say. The union has filed Unfair Labor Practice charges with the NLRB saying one worker was fired in retaliation for union organizing.

Charges, filed mid-September, also say the company thwarted organizing efforts by: Telling workers their unionizing efforts were futile; yelling at union representatives who were speaking to workers outside the plant; threatening to close the plant if workers organized; conducting surveillance on union organizers, and threatening to stop all BINGO parties and birthday celebrations if workers formed a union.

John Russo, New England Linen’s general manager, dismissed the allegations: “They did file numerous charges against us. They are being investigated by the NLRB and by ourselves. New England Linen strongly disputes any of the charges they’ve made against us.”

Russo declined to comment on other complaints about hazardous and unsanitary working conditions. Records show the company was fined over $10,000 by the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration last winter for health and safety violations, including regarding exit routes, flammable and combustible liquids, and noise levels.

Fair Haven Heights Alderman Robert Lee responded with support: “If you’re willing to stand, we’re willing to stand with you.”

Caucus President and Hill Alderman Jorge Perez asked workers for a concrete way in which they wanted aldermen to help. He steered workers to the health department to issue complaints they voiced about working conditions.

Workers are organizing a rally outside the plant Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 3 p.m. in support of the organizing efforts.

New Haven Independent

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