-By Warner Todd Huston
Here is a story that shows exactly how a union will lie, cheat and violate the law to get their way. Apparently UNITE, the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, is trying to force the Cintas Uniform company in Mason, Ohio to accept union representation. And, they don’t care what they have to do to get that done… even IF the Cintas employees consistently vote the union down!
As the Cincinnati Enquirer reports the union “wants to skip the customary secret-ballot and force 17,000 Cintas workers to join the union and pay dues. But Cintas and its workers have said no thanks.”
So, what has the union done to force the issue?
Unite copied license numbers from Cintas workers in Pennsylvania, to snoop in personal information and harass them at home. The union has been ordered to pay the workers $2,500 each. Unite also published a false press release that caused Cintas stock to drop $300 million, according to a defamation suit by Cintas that is going to trial in Warren County court.
Harassing the workers that they want to represent? Seems a bad way to start a relationship, doesn’t it? That and their tactics violating the law, and all that.
UNITE also tried to use the accidental death of a worker as a tool to force their agenda, despite that the company responded very well to the accident.
“Eleazar Torres Gomez was working in the Tulsa laundry’s automated washroom. He was caught on a conveyor and dragged into an industrial dryer – where he was trapped in temperatures up to 300 degrees for at least 20 minutes. He died on the scene of trauma and thermal injuries. Cintas CEO Scott Farmer issued a press release blaming Mr. Torres Gomez for his own death soon after the fatality.”
But Gomez was caught in machinery and pushed into a dryer after he climbed onto a conveyer to clear a logjam of wet laundry – a violation of training and safety rules. Farmer expressed grief and condolences, and did so again at the shareholder’s meeting, when union officials brought up the accident.
Farmer explained recent steps to improve the Cintas safety record, which is 30 percent better than the industry average. Cintas is disputing a $2.78 million federal fine for the accident, and is being sued by the victim’s family.
And the Cintas workers have rewarded the company with their loyalty and their rejection of the unions efforts to get a toehold established.
The closing line of the Cincy Enquirer story is a fitting end to this episode, so I’ll just repeat it here…
“Remember Eleazar Torres Gomez”? Sure. His death could prevent another fatal accident. But exploiting a dead man’s mistake is a creepy way to beg for union dues.
Creepy, indeed.
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Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, men’snewsdaily.com and americandaily.com among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a guest on several radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston