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Laundry workers get union
(Published April 19, 2004)

About 100 employees of Sterling Cleaners and Textile Services on Blair Road NW returned to work last week, following settlement of a seven-month strike that resulted in union recognition for the workers.

A labor agreement with the workers’ union was reached on April 6. Sterling conducted a "card check," where employees are able to show their interest in joining a union by showing signed union cards. A majority of the workers wanted to join UNITE, which represents 2,300 industrial laundry workers in the Mid-Atlantic Region and more than 200,000 workers in Canada and the United States.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO credits pressure brought by organized labor, aimed at denying Sterling local laundering contracts, for settling the strike.

Scott Kamins, an attorney with Krupin O’Brien representing Sterling, said the strike did not have any significant financial impact on the business. There is a fair amount of turnover in the industry and the key employees remained at Sterling during the strike, he said.

UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Workers) negotiated a three-year contract for Sterling employees "providing workers with a pension plan, free individual and family health coverage, and the largest wage increase in company history," said a labor council press release.

"Sterling workers have won meaningful wage and benefit increases," said Harold Bock, UNITE’s Mid-Atlantic regional director. "The protection of contract language will lead to essential improvements in health and safety on the job."

All employees of the company are covered under the union contract. --Melissa Ferrara