“Taking on Corporate Bullies”: Cintas, Laundry Workers, and Organizing in the 1930s and Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Based on interviews with workers and organizers, union and company records, legal documents, and media sources, this article compares laundry unionism in the 1930s and early 2000s at Cintas, North America's largest industrial launderer and uniform rental provider. Employing resource mobilization theory, social movement unionism, and collective identity theory, the article argues that laundry workers were able to organize in the 1930s because of the simultaneous presence of union resources and internal activist solidarities at the shop floor level. While UNITE HERE (now Workers United) has run an innovative comprehensive campaign to organize Cintas, the absence of solidarity on the shop floor has impeded organization.

Mobilizing Protest: Insights from Two Factory Closures

“…But in common with other studies (e.g. Badigannavar and Kelly 2005;Carson 2010;Milkman 2006), this research also demonstrates that local organization, internal solidarities and a sense of injustice are not enough. Isolation undermines the capacity of a local union to realize its own power resources (Frost 2000;Levesque and Murray 2005;Turner 2006) even if there is potential for mobilization.…”

“…While Tilly (: 68) dismissed Kerr and Siegel's () thesis concerning the strike propensity of an ‘isolated mass’ of workers, the significance of the density of social networks for mobilization has long been acknowledged as a vital part of the opportunity structure for mobilization (Kelly : 37; Milkman ). In the Burberry case, employees engaged in ‘injustice driven participation’ — the firm's actions being framed in moral terms (profiting from exploitation and betraying loyal service) — and the workforce saw their union as justified in seeking ‘redress for an unjustified act’ (Brown Johnson and Jarley : 556; Carson ). But without national union resources and elite allies, the campaign is unlikely to have developed or been able to sustain its eventual intensity.…”

“…In this sense, the expertise of local politicians and the national union was critical in securing coalitions with other unions and gaining the support of other groups — in particular, the media — which provided crucial additional momentum for the campaign. What came together in the Burberry case, then, was the combined impact of ‘organisational resources, union strategy and internal solidarity’ (Carson : 456), which was facilitated and underpinned by external solidarities (Frost ; Levesque and Murray ) exemplified in the community's support for the workers and their campaign.…”

“…However, localized legitimacy alone is rarely sufficient to push forward labour's interests (e.g. Carson ), and the realization of power relies on a complex interaction between the micro and macro context for bargaining activity. This is highly dependent on the ‘network embeddedness’ (Frost : 561) or ‘external solidarity’ of the local union, defined by Levesque and Murray (: 493) as ‘the capacity of local unions to work with their communities and to build horizontal and vertical coordination with other unions as well as alliances among unions, community groups and social movements’.…”

“…This was compounded when, following the announcement, employees were locked inside the plant (which was surrounded by security guards hired for the occasion) and were prevented from leaving the premises for some hours pending distribution of redundancy letters. In later interviews and informal discussions with employees, it became clear that the handling of the closure announcement by senior management was felt to be an assault on their dignity as workers, an intangible factor that has been highlighted as redeemable through the process of engaging in collective action and fighting for one's ‘rights’ (Carson : 470–1): this was a feature of the Burberry workers’ campaign referred to by several respondents in interviews (for a fuller account of the closure and campaign, see Blyton and Jenkins ). The workforce's general outrage at their treatment led them to a ‘diagnostic framing’ (Benford and Snow : 615) of their situation as one of gross injustice even before their full‐time union officer could gain access to them.…”