By Alexander Dworkowitz
A national union has begun demonstrating in front of the College Point Cintas Corp. facility as part of a campaign to organize the uniform company’s workers across the country.
Members of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees have been rallying at the Cintas warehouse at 109-14 14th Ave. for the past several weeks.
Unite members recently kicked off a campaign to unionize workers of the Cincinnati-based Cintas, which sells, rents and leases uniforms.
About 37 drivers pick-up and drop off uniforms at the College Point location, said Marc Hunt, a Unite organizing director.
“These guys out here, they get a straight salary,” Hunt said. “They can work 60 hours a week but get no overtime. They’re lowering the standard for our guys.”
The largest Cintas facility in the area is in Central Islip, L.I., where the College Point drivers often deliver the uniforms to be washed. Unite has filed 75 charges against Cintas with the National Labor Relations Board, said Rodrigo Coronel, a business agent with the union.
Unite brought charges against the Central Islip location but not the College Point branch, Coronel said.
The NLRB, a federal agency, monitors companies to make sure their employees are allowed to bargain collectively.
Unite members contend Cintas has been intimidating workers into not joining the union.
Cintas is the world’s largest public uniform company, according to the corporation’s Web site. Founded 33 years ago, the company has posted profits every year, and its sales have more than doubled in the last five years, according to the web site.
Hunt said the College Point workers were often asked to work extra hours with no added incentive. On one occasion, they were called in to work a Saturday and were given only pizza, he said.
Cintas Vice President and Treasurer Karen Carnahan said the union was putting out false information.
“The Queens facility is an excellent facility,” she said. “I think they [Unite] are fabricating that information as they go.”
About 3 percent of the 27,000 Cintas employees across North America are in a union, said Carnahan, who added that the decision to organize rested with Cintas employees.
“They [Unite] are not interested in talking to our people or understanding what our people want,” she said. “They are just interested in creating this whole environment in the media.”
Drivers who work at the College Point warehouse could not be reached for comment.
Hunt said the workers have been sympathetic to the union organizers in front of their warehouse.
“Many of them are for the union,” he said. “Many of these workers are young, straight out of the military.”
Lamont Thomas, an employee of Seacrest, a rival uniform company, joined a recent demonstration in College Point.
“We’re out here supporting the Cintas workers,” Thomas said.
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718 229-0300, Ext. 141.
