The media IS paying attention to labor. Well at least this key AP story is being picked up. So let’s give credit where it’s due for "Cintas workers criticize company's safety record". The A.P. story is about a group of current and former Cintas laundry workers who were injured on the job and are going across the country, speaking out about their working conditions (I blogged about this Tuesday).
Traditional news media coverage of this tour and the top-notch reporting on the problems at Cintas give me hope. I know that’s an odd thing to say on Dkos. I also know that the blogosphere and the A.P. aren’t exactly getting along right now but it is so important that this story get more air time--and that the media covers worker safety issues period-- I can't help but smile as my Google news alerts come in.
Of course, hearing about the workers’ injuries would wipe the smile off any face. And this is only the end of week 1 of UNITE HERE’s nationwide Painful Truth Tour where the members of the Coalition of Injured Cintas Workers speak to union members about the circumstances in which the uniforms they wear are cleaned.
Balvina Moreno, a 17 year Cintas employee assigned to the company’s Maywood, Illinois facility, spoke of a frightening accident she endured at work:
I had an accident were the machine I used to iron pants—a machine that’s over 400 degrees hot—exploded. I got steam and hot water in my eyes and ears. I had blood coming from my eyes.
At the tour’s first stop in Chicago, union laundry workers told their non-union brothers and sisters in the injured workers coalition how important having a voice on the job is. Because of the protections a union provides, workers are more likely to take action and get management to fix hazards.
Cintas workers have been fighting for the past five years to form their union, in the face of harassment and intimidationfrom the company. I hope that after hearing workers’ stories, people will consider how life at Cintas would be if Cintas employees had a union.
Hearing Cintas workers talk to union members has made it absolutely clear how important the Employee Free Choice Act is. This legislation will give workers a fair, democratic process—free from coercion—to form a union.
