Break Chicago’s ties to Lechner and Sons,
UNITE HERE members urge City Council
CHICAGO – End Chicago’s contract with Lechner and Sons. That’s what more than 100 members of the Chicago & Midwest Regional Joint Board of UNITE HERE urged the city to do when they attended a hearing at City Hall here on February 15.
The UNITE HERE members were from Local 969 and other parts of the Joint Board. They came to City Hall in Chicago’s Loop to attend a hearing of the City Council’s Human Relations Committee. The committee was considering a resolution calling for an investigation into whether Chicago should terminate its $400,000 contract with Lechner and Sons. (The company has a contract to clean dust mats for the city.)
UNITE HERE Local 969 members are on strike against Lechner and Sons, a large uniform rental and industrial laundering company. The Lechner workers hang, sew and iron uniforms, and prepare them for packaging. They walked off the job on July 12, 2006 in order to protect their rights.
The committee hearing was chaired by Alderman Billy Ocasio of the 26th ward. Lynn Talbott, manager of the Chicago & Midwest Regional Joint Board and an international vice-president of UNITE HERE, testified about the situation at Lechner. Talbott described how the fight began more than two years ago when the company moved from the North Side of Chicago to the Chicago suburb of Mount Prospect. When the company decided to build the new facility in Mount Prospect, it wanted to fire its employees and hire new ones. The union fought this, and the issue went to arbitration. The arbitrator ruled in the union’s favor. Talbott described how the company abandoned the city of Chicago and then tried to abandon its obligations to its workers.
Esperanza Munoz of Local 969 also spoke at the hearing, describing the harassment on the part of the company.
Several members of the City Council attended the hearing and indicated their concern about the situation and their support for an investigation into Lechner’s conduct. Manuel Flores (1st ward), Ricardo Munoz (22nd ward), Joe Moore, (49th ward), Leslie Hairston (5th ward), and Patrick Levar (45th ward) all spoke in favor of an investigation. All said that if Lechner is found not to be in compliance with existing requirements for companies which do business with Chicago, then the city should terminate the contract immediately.
Click Here to Watch the Video Now!
*only available in Spanish