Laundry workers in Oceanside, Long Island, struck for three days demanding to be represented by Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees.

The workers’ fight to be represented by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) is in response to poor working conditions, company abuse, low wages, and no benefits. Some workers with nearly 20 years’ service still earn less than $6 an hour. The company provides no medical or other insurance. Workers also protested anti-immigrant abuse and sexual harassment by management. The overwhelming majority of the workforce at this Long Island factory is Spanish-speaking; most are originally from El Salvador.

Employees at the plant, which washes laundry from hospitals, report being pricked by hypodermic needles found in the linen or being exposed to blood on bedsheets because of a lack of proper equipment.

The company previously claimed that workers were represented by a union called "United Workers of America Local 660." But workers described the pro-company outfit as a "phantom union."

"They told us to put an ‘x’ next to the box for Local 660," Visitación Humaña told the Spanish-language daily Hoy. Humaña explained that he did so on instructions by his supervisor, who also happens to be one of the leaders of the so-called union.

These conditions led to a demand for real union representation. After some initial meetings with the workers, UNITE representatives gave the bosses a deadline of Thursday, October 19 to recognize the union as the bargaining agent.

"But on Wednesday morning everyone walked out," said Adela Alberto on the picket line October 20.

"We had to be here because we all face the same conditions," said Alberto, who came with two other workers from the nearby Tartan Textile plant to show solidarity. She is the vice president of UNITE Local 330 at that industrial laundry, located in Hempstead, Long Island. In July, Alberto also helped organize a one-week sympathy strike at her plant in support of the strike against Tartan Textile’s plant in Pompano Beach, Florida. "That was a successful fight and earned us a lot of respect," he said.

Bosses at Oceanside Institutional Industries initially threatened to fire all those who walked out. But the strike remained solid, with no more than a dozen people crossing the picket line, strikers reported. In the end the company backed down and no one was fired. Since returning to work, management’s conduct has changed noticeably, several workers pointed out.

José Portillo, who has worked 11 years in the pressing department, told Hoy he was proud of what they had accomplished. "We knew that if we remained united, we could win our demands."

The company agreed to join in industrywide negotiations for a contract, which are currently under way in New York State.  
 
 
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