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New Era Cap is Focus of Workers' Rights Investigation: CWA Also Cites Company for OSHA, Labor Law Vi
Washington, D.C. -- New Era Cap Co. in Derby, N.Y. is the focus of a new investigation by the Workers' Rights Consortium. The WRC is an independent monitoring organization working to ensure that apparel bearing school logos is manufactured under the codes of conduct adopted by the colleges and universities. Seventy-nine colleges and universities are affiliated with the WRC.
The WRC team investigates factory conditions and reports its findings to its affiliate schools and the public; the group is now set to investigate New Era Cap, which makes caps for Major League Baseball and bearing the logos of hundreds of colleges and universities. The group notified New Era management of its intent to investigate based on complaints it received about abuses at the Derby plant.
The WRC investigation follows numerous charges of serious violations of federal health and safety laws and federal labor laws, brought by the Communications Workers of America.
On June 1, New Era refused to continue contract talks with CWA Local 14177 and announced it would implement its own proposals cutting wages and working conditions and boosting workers' health care costs.
CWA maintains that negotiations should continue and the union is filing unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board over the company's refusal to bargain and other labor law violations that are on-going at the Derby plant.
Members of CWA Local 14177 are seeking a new contract to replace one that expired last December. New Era has been shifting work to low-wage operations in Alabama and overseas sweatshops in Bangladesh, and is setting new base wage rates that will result in pay cuts of 30 percent or more for some workers.
CWA also has alerted New Era management that the union filed notice of safety and health violations with the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Numerous employees are suffering debilitating injuries caused by improper ergonomic working conditions. Further, New Era has no procedures for responding to puncture and laceration injuries suffered by workers, as required by OSHA. New Era employees are exposed to hazardous chemicals, including formaldehyde, and the company has not informed workers of the hazards of these toxic substances and how to protect themselves from unnecessary exposure, another violation of federal safety law.
New Era Cap has been a mainstay of the Derby community since 1920, but its union-busting actions are tarnishing the image the company has tried hard to maintain. Some 600 employees had been working at the Derby plant, with another 300 workers at the Buffalo facility. Citing "efficiency concerns" management laid off 125 workers from the Derby plant earlier this year.
CWA also has uncovered New Era's attempt to deceive the public about the origins of its caps. Workers are ordered to cut out labels that say "made in Bangladesh," then sew in the New Era label instead. The official Major League Baseball caps are no longer made under union conditions in New York. Other caps have duplicate, misleading labels.
United Students Against Sweatshops, with the support of Jobs with Justice, recently conducted an investigation into conditions at New Era and issued a report that condemns the company's sweatshop operations. Since New Era also supplies caps to nearly 100 universities, students are contacting university administrators, urging them to support the call that New Era return to the bargaining table and rehire the laid off workers.
The New Era workers also have won the support of the Major League Players Association; Jobs with Justice; elected officials throughout New York State; labor, religious and community organizations, and many more groups.
The WRC team investigates factory conditions and reports its findings to its affiliate schools and the public; the group is now set to investigate New Era Cap, which makes caps for Major League Baseball and bearing the logos of hundreds of colleges and universities. The group notified New Era management of its intent to investigate based on complaints it received about abuses at the Derby plant.
The WRC investigation follows numerous charges of serious violations of federal health and safety laws and federal labor laws, brought by the Communications Workers of America.
On June 1, New Era refused to continue contract talks with CWA Local 14177 and announced it would implement its own proposals cutting wages and working conditions and boosting workers' health care costs.
CWA maintains that negotiations should continue and the union is filing unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board over the company's refusal to bargain and other labor law violations that are on-going at the Derby plant.
Members of CWA Local 14177 are seeking a new contract to replace one that expired last December. New Era has been shifting work to low-wage operations in Alabama and overseas sweatshops in Bangladesh, and is setting new base wage rates that will result in pay cuts of 30 percent or more for some workers.
CWA also has alerted New Era management that the union filed notice of safety and health violations with the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Numerous employees are suffering debilitating injuries caused by improper ergonomic working conditions. Further, New Era has no procedures for responding to puncture and laceration injuries suffered by workers, as required by OSHA. New Era employees are exposed to hazardous chemicals, including formaldehyde, and the company has not informed workers of the hazards of these toxic substances and how to protect themselves from unnecessary exposure, another violation of federal safety law.
New Era Cap has been a mainstay of the Derby community since 1920, but its union-busting actions are tarnishing the image the company has tried hard to maintain. Some 600 employees had been working at the Derby plant, with another 300 workers at the Buffalo facility. Citing "efficiency concerns" management laid off 125 workers from the Derby plant earlier this year.
CWA also has uncovered New Era's attempt to deceive the public about the origins of its caps. Workers are ordered to cut out labels that say "made in Bangladesh," then sew in the New Era label instead. The official Major League Baseball caps are no longer made under union conditions in New York. Other caps have duplicate, misleading labels.
United Students Against Sweatshops, with the support of Jobs with Justice, recently conducted an investigation into conditions at New Era and issued a report that condemns the company's sweatshop operations. Since New Era also supplies caps to nearly 100 universities, students are contacting university administrators, urging them to support the call that New Era return to the bargaining table and rehire the laid off workers.
The New Era workers also have won the support of the Major League Players Association; Jobs with Justice; elected officials throughout New York State; labor, religious and community organizations, and many more groups.
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