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How would you feel if unbeknownst to you, you were exposed to dangerous toxins at work?  What if your employer had known all along?  These aren’t hypothetical questions at industrial laundries where many workers are not given the proper training and protective gear to deal safely with their exposure to toxins and solvents on towels and rags. 

Read Mark's story...

At a hearing before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mark Fragola testified that he learned first-hand how toxic his job was as a driver for Cintas Corp., when he contracted a serious fungus infection that required two major surgeries.  Mark still lost his sense of smell and incurred substantial debts from his medical bills.  He didn’t have to. 

Workers like Mark deserve to work in a safe and healthy environment.  It’s one important reason workers cite for wanting to form a union.  In fact, workers at Cintas plants across the country are fighting for better on-the-job protections through their efforts to unionize.  Unfortunately, Cintas is opposing workers' efforts to organize.  The National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency charged with protecting certain worker rights, has issued a complaint alleging that Cintas committed multiple violations of federal labor laws, including firing workers for engaging in union organizing activities. 

It may come as no surprise that Cintas, the nation’s top industrial laundry, has an atrocious environmental and health and safety record—having repeatedly been cited for violations of environmental laws and for more than 140 violations of OSHA standards.  Now Cintas and other industrial laundry giants are lobbying for weakened regulations with the EPA that will leave laundry workers with even less protections for their safety and health.  Until Cintas’ workers get their voice, they’ll need people like us to stand up with them for better working conditions.

Act Now!
EPA is considering a draft rule that would permanently exempt toxic-laden “shop towels”—chemical solvent rags—from federal hazardous and solid waste regulations.  The rule has serious repercussions for workers, as well as the environment.  If approved, the rule would enable industrial laundries to allow their workers to transport and launder shop towels full of solvents and other toxins, without proper training, handling, labeling and disposal requirements.  It's time to tell the EPA that workers and the environment come first and to adopt meaningful protections for them.  Make your voice heard today—comments must be received by April 9, 2004.