"I never had doubts we would win. We had a strong strike. Everyone's attitude was: we won't go back without a union, no matter how long it takes."

Nearly 250 workers at the laundry walked off the job April 23 after the employers fired 16 of their co-workers during a fight to win a union in the plant.

Up-To-Date is one of the largest industrial laundries in Baltimore, washing 28 million pounds of linen a year for major hospitals, medical centers, and hotels. The medical laundry, in particular, comes soiled with human blood, waste, dirty hypodermic needles, and other serious health hazards.

The owners of Up-To-Date have fought bitterly for years to keep the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) out of the plant. They have faced numerous complaints submitted to the Maryland Commission on Human Rights, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board during the union organizing fight because of racist discrimination, sexual abuse, discriminatory firings, and violations of the right of the workers to organize.

Describing how workers had stood up to company efforts to divide the workforce, Murphy remarked, "Since we have been on strike the African American and Latino workers have definitely bonded. Before, when we were in the plant, because of the language barriers, we were subject to conflict. But on the picket line, we have learned to understand each other."

According to union organizer Melvin Newsome, the company went on a campaign in the months leading up to the strike to recruit Latino workers from the Washington, D.C., area. The bosses paid these workers slightly higher wages than the rest of the workers in the plant, who were in their majority Black workers from Baltimore. The company hoped the immigrant workers would act as a brake on a strike and prevent any union election victory. The attempt to pit workers against each other failed, however, as virtually all workers of Latin American origin signed union cards and joined the walkout and strike.  
 
Broad support for strike
The strike won broad support in the Baltimore area because of the company's notorious record. The NAACP, whose headquarters is in Baltimore, campaigned in defense of the strikers.

"This is a real step forward for the brave workers at Up-To-Date," Kweisi Mfume, national president of the NAACP, told the Baltimore Sun after the unionists' victory. "Their courage and hard work brought them a well-deserved victory."

Although the laundry bosses tried to keep the plant running with temporary workers escorted by uniformed guards during the strike, the strength of the strike and the support it won forced the company to settle.

Under pressure, some of the laundry's largest customers, including the University of Maryland Medical Center and Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel, threatened to cancel their contracts with the laundry.

Both companies sent letters to the laundry saying they were "troubled by continuing allegations that there are serious violations of employees' rights."

Under the contract, which was approved overwhelmingly June 21, workers won union representation, a three-year contract, immediate wage increases, health and pension benefits, eight paid holidays a year, one week of vacation, vaccinations against disease exposure, and the right to form a union health and safety committee.

"The struggle has been going on for two years," Francisco Leiva said in an interview. "We got stronger and stronger. I was sure of the victory because I was sure of the people."

He commented, "To me, medical coverage is most important." Leiva works separating soiled laundry before it is cleaned. Because of the medical waste, workers face the constant danger of hepatitis, and the company had refused to provide protective vaccinations.

"Now we have shots for the diseases we come into contact with," Leiva said.

"We achieved our objectives: a union contract, respect, health care, a pension fund, and some more money," Jaime López added. "What helped us win was solidarity, support from the community and other unions, and from the NAACP."

Newsome, an African-American who worked in the plant until he became a union organizer, said Up-To-Date was "a plantation that was out of date."

He added, "When the owner of the shop was forced into signing the agreement with the union, she came out of the plant to the union picket line and kicked over a table the union had set up with cold drinks for the picket line."

"It shows she is still going through denial about the union," added Perry Hopper, another union organizer, who used to work at Cannon Mills in Kannapolis, North Carolina. "She will probably have relapses. A strong union will help her through the transition."

John Studer is a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees Local 15 in Philadelphia.  
 
 
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