|
National
Labor Relations Board issues complaint against Mission Linen
Company intimidates and harasses employees organizing with UNITE
By Lisa Rayner
Tea Party Publisher
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a 13-page
complaint against Mission Linen citing the company for 48 violations
of federal labor law including intimidation, coercion and illegal
firings at its facilities in Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tucson and
Albuquerque. The violations occurred during a drive by the Union of
Needle Trades, Industrial and Textile Employees to unionize Mission
Linen workers. The complaint was issued in early July after a
two-month investigation by the federal agency. The case will go to
trial Aug. 5.
Mission Linen is an industrial
launderer and supplier headquartered in Santa Barbara, Calif.
with facilities in 40 cities in five western states. Mission
Linen is one of the largest linen laundering services in northern
Arizona, with hundreds of commercial clients, including dozens of
Flagstaff restaurants, hotels and Flagstaff Medical Center.
The Flagstaff plant employs
about 90 people. Many workers at the plant make between $6.50 and $7
an hour. Workers report that safety and health conditions at the
Flagstaff plant are substandard. For example, UNITE said in a press
release last spring that, “Workers … handle linen from Flagstaff
Medical Center. ... The linen often arrives soaked in blood and
other bodily fluids, and may contain … hypodermic needles and
broken glass vials. Uniforms are short-sleeved, and gloves are
sometimes in short supply. Workers are not provided with goggles and
masks. … No one has had the Hepatitis vaccines recommended for
this line of work.”
See the news briefs in the April and May editions of FTP
for details.
Mission Linen workers across the
Southwest are organizing with UNITE to improve their working
conditions, wages, and health insurance. UNITE represents more than
40,000 laundry workers in the United States.
Employees at all four facilities voted in favor of joining
UNITE in May. However, the “(Flagstaff) vote was very close,"
said UNITE Western Region Organizing Director Jenny Roitman to
Flagstaff Tea Party. “A number of votes are being disputed by the
company. … The NLRB is investigating those charges in the same
(Aug. 5) hearing,” said Roitman.
Workers repeatedly complained of intimidation and harassment
from Mission Linen management throughout the union organizing
process. The complaint says that at the Flagstaff facility, Mission
Linen managers:
n
Promised employees an expedited wage increase if they
refrained from union organizational activity.
n
Both threatened employees with loss of benefits if they voted
to organize with UNITE and promised increased benefits and improved
terms and conditions of employment if employees refrained from union
activity.
n
Threatened employees with discharge due to their status with
the Immigration and Naturalization Service and threatened visits
from the INS.
n
Threatened employees with discipline or discharge if they
engaged in concerted action such as a strike (workers at the
Flagstaff plant chose to strike nonetheless).
n
Interrogated its employees about their union activities and
sympathies.
n
Threatened employees by stating that the company would not
permit the union to represent employees.
n
Prohibited employees from wearing union attire, such as
shirts, hats and buttons, and threatened them with discharge when
they did so.
The complaint also details specific incidents of intimidation
of Flagstaff employees, charging that Mission Linen:
n
Reduced the working hours of Guadalupe Salas.
n
Selectively and disparately enforced its rule requiring
employees to wear hardhats and suspended Neftali Reyes and Ramiro
(whose last name is presently unknown), to UNITE.
n
Assigned Hector Mejia more arduous work, transferred him to a
less desirable job classification and reduced his working hours.
n
Selectively and disparately enforced its hairnet policy and
suspended Laura Castruita, Maria Aviles and Amparo Salinas, and
issued Margarita Luna a written warning.
The complaint lists the following Flagstaff plant managers as
working during the period of time the violations occurred: Plant
Manager Gary Clark, Production Supervisor Luis Devilla, and
Supervisors Mike Daniel and Helen Ayala.
Mauricio Vasquez, regional manager of UNITE says, “We are
pleased that the Labor Board has issued this complaint against
Mission Linen. They investigated the situation, and the complaint
reflects the massive violations of worker’s rights that we have
seen committed by the management of this company. It is a testimony
to the courage of these workers that so many came forward to give
evidence during the government’s investigation.”
The
Aug. 5 hearing will start at 1 p.m. in the Hearing Room, National
Labor Relations Board, 2600 N. Central Ave., Suite 1800, Phoenix
before an administrative law judge of the Board.
|
