After 7 months on picket line
D.C. laundry workers win union, contract
By Sharon Black
Washington, D.C.
Sterling Laundry's owner boasted publicly that
he would rather burn down his business than allow his workers
to join a union. In a show of arrogance and racism, he referred
to the mostly immigrant women workers as "cows."
But he had to eat his words on April 7.
After enduring a seven-month-long strike in bitterly cold
weather, Sterling workers won union recognition and their first
contract. An aggressive campaign by the workers and their
supporters to deny Sterling local laundering contracts resulted
in a three-year contract providing workers with a pension plan,
health care and the largest wage increase in company
history.
These workers will join the more than 2,300 other industrial
laundry workers who are protected by UNITE contracts in the
mid-Atlantic region.
AFL-CIO Metro Washington Council President Jos Williams
stated, "This resounding victory by laundry workers adds to the
unstoppable momentum for social justice in our community that
we witnessed in the recent supermarket workers' campaign.
Solidarity, persistence and creativity work!"
The Rev. Graylan Hagler, minister of the Plymouth
Congregational Church, provided almost daily support. The
Baltimore All Peoples Congress collected food and formed car
caravans to show its support.
Reprinted from the April 22, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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