|
|
Article: Joining a union: why it's hard to organize workers.(Of Several Minds)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- July 16, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Cintas is the largest industrial laundry business in North America. According to Forbes, it is the 417th largest corporation in the United States and is run by Richard Farmer, the 140th richest American. Farmer's personal wealth is estimated to be $1.5 billion. For the last year and a half, Cintas's seventeen thousand employees have been the focus of an organizing campaign by Unite-HERE, the new merger of the old garment and hotel workers unions, in alliance with the Teamsters. The campaign has sought to develop support among students, politicians, the Sierra Club, the NAACP, and the religious community. The company, meanwhile, has fought back in the courts, the media, and ...