“It’s really hot in there, and dirty!” another worker told the Militant. Workers said that loading and unloading, washing, drying, and folding hospital linens is heavy work.
Accidents are also common in this industry. In early May, for example, two workers suffered serious burns when a hot-water tank exploded at Modern Tech Cleaners, a commercial laundry plant in the South Bronx, New York.
Angelica is the largest commercial laundry in the United States serving hospitals and nursing homes. Out of the company’s 35 facilities 25 are unionized by UNITE HERE.
Militant reporters discussed with workers at Pawtucket recent one-day walkouts by unionized Angelica workers in Batavia, New York, and Wichita Falls, Texas.
Workers at these two laundries walked out in May to protest the company stalling in contract negotiations with their union. At the Texas plant the company retaliated with a one-day lockout when the workers returned to the job.
At the Batavia plant, the bosses are reportedly firing workers without allowing them to use the union grievance process. A UNITE HERE spokesperson reported that since the contract expired seven workers have been fired and rebuffed from filing grievances. The management at the New York plant docked the Memorial Day pay of the workers who had walked out, saying they did not work a full week and so they forfeited the holiday pay.
The city of New York contracts out a substantial portion of municipal hospital laundry to be cleaned by Angelica.
Workers at seven unionized plants in New York, California, and Texas were set to strike May 5, but did not walk out after union negotiators reported an improvement in the talks.
Inside workers at the Pawtucket plant are not organized, but the truck drivers are members of the Teamsters union, a driver told the Militant. Many of the workers, who receive $8.30 an hour, are originally from the country of Cape Verde in West Africa. UNITE HERE is trying to extend unionization to all Angelica facilities.
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