Kucinich Calls for Workers Rights at Cintas
The following is a press release from July 9, 2003, by Kucinich's office in Congress.
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Statement Of Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich In Support Of Workers At Cintas Corporation
Today, Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, attended a Capitol Hill press conference to support the rights of workers at Cintas Corporation to form a union.
Kucinich stated:
"The freedom of workers to join together in unions and bargain collectively is a fundamental human right. It is also guaranteed by US labor law. But today there is a silent war being waged against this freedom. When America's workers seek to exercise this right, they often face an array of employer threats, intimidation, coercion and outright warfare.
"Today I stand with my colleagues, along with Bruce Raynor of UNITE and James Hoffa of the Teamsters Union, to say to the workers of Cintas Corporation and indeed the workers of America that we support their right to organize and we support their right to provide for their families. And we will not stand for employers' attempts to destroy these rights through illegal actions.
"The situation at Cintas Corporation -- which last year had revenues of $2.3 billion and pays the vast majority of its 17,000 workers less than $9 an hour -- is not unique. According to NLRB records cited by Human Rights Watch, illegal reprisals against workers who attempt to organize have grown from fewer than 1000 per year in the 1950s to over 23,000 in 1998. At Cintas workers report that management has responded to their efforts to organize with an extensive retaliatory campaign including firings, harassment, surveillance and a string of mandatory meetings, videos and letters.
"The anti-worker and anti-American atmosphere that surrounds the rights of those who strengthen this nation everyday must end. It erodes the quality of life for millions of American families and it is a serious suppression of democracy itself. As Jurgis Rudkus, the protagonist in Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle, states early on during his time in Chicago's meatpacking houses, the ability of workers to form a union is the definition of the phrase "a free country". He was right. When employers stand in the way of workers' rights to organize, the workplace remains the type of jungle that Jurgis Rudkus would recognize.
"We say to Cintas, don't deny your workers their fundamental rights. We say to all corporations, treat your workers with the dignity and respect they deserve â€" allow them to organize. It is their right."
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Further information on Cintas.
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