State probing union charge of sweatshop use

AUGUSTA – A New York-based union is charging that Maine has acquired uniforms for some staff at the Augusta Mental Health Institute from a company with sweatshop factories – and that would be a violation of state law.

UNITE is one of the largest apparel and laundry unions in North America and represents over 200,000 workers in the United States and Canada. The union, formerly known as the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, has members in Maine.

The union filed a formal complaint Tuesday with state officials charging the Ohio-based Cintas Corp. with violating the state law, charges that are denied by the company.

“The statements from workers at these factories making Cintas uniforms paint a disturbing picture of sweatshop abuse in Cintas’ global supply chain,” Ernie Loring, a UNITE representative in Maine, said in a statement. “These statements show that Cintas has failed to enforce its own vendor code of conduct and that Cintas has violated Maine’s Code of Conduct. Public agencies and other customers that do not want to support sweatshops should be wary of procuring uniforms from Cintas.”

In January, Cintas certified to the state of Maine that its supplier, Haitian American Textile Company S.A., known as HATCOSA, was in compliance with provisions of the State Purchasing Code of Conduct. Maine passed a law in 2002 requiring suppliers, and any subcontractors, certify that they are following local workplace laws.

“The report UNITE filed with the complaint shows that is not happening,” said Bjorn Claeson, coordinator of the Bangor-based Sweatfree Communities, a group advocating laws similar to the Maine statue. “The report clearly shows they are not doing what they said they were doing.”

That 27-page report, released by UNITE when they filed the complaint, details how Cintas suppliers allegedly are violating health and safety laws, wage and hour laws and other protections for employees at the HATCOSA facility in Haiti, where the uniforms used at AMHI were made.

The report also alleges violations at other facilities not involved in making the uniforms used at AMHI.

Finance Commissioner Becky Wyke said the allegations are being reviewed by the state Bureau of Purchases, one division in her Department. She said the state takes the complaint seriously.

“If this [complaint] is factual, it would be a violation of the affidavit that they signed,” she said, “and it could lead to the termination of the contract if they do not correct the errors.”

Wyke said a key purpose of the legislation was to influence the labor practices around the world and improve working conditions. She said the hope is the vendor will improve working conditions in order to do business with the state.

“We are not staffed to do an independent investigation,” she said. “What happens is that we require that they [Cintas] respond to the allegations, and that may include that they hire an independent authority to investigate it and provide us an independent report.”

Wyke said if the company does not choose to provide such an independent report, the state could terminate the contract. The uniform contract has a value of about $18,000 a year she said.

Cintas’ spokesman Wade Gates said the allegations are “totally and completely false” and said the company is ready to prove that to the state.

“We have all the documentation and photos from a third-party auditor on all of the plants we use,” he said. “We are ready to supply the signed statements to the state as proof we are in compliance.”

Gates said the allegations by UNITE are part of a “negative publicity “campaign by the union, which has been trying to organize employees at Cintas for several years. He said the organizing efforts have not been as successful as the union would hope, with only 700 of the 27,000 Cintas workers voting to join a union.

Wyke said the Bureau of Purchases will be reviewing the complaint and the response from Cintas. She did not know how long it would take to resolve the dispute.