Civil Rights Leaders Urge Government to Investigate Discrimination Charges at Cintas

Civil Rights Leaders Urge Government to Investigate Discrimination Charges at Cintas

Bias in Hiring and Promotion, Segregation in Job Assignments and Hostile Workplace Practices Cited as Evidence of Systemic Discrimination Against Women and Minorities at Cintas Corp.

November 18, 2003

Washington, DC -- Current and former employees of Cintas, the nation's largest uniform provider, today announced the filing of class action charges at federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) offices around the country alleging widespread discrimination against women and minorities at Cintas. Workers were joined by Kweisi Mfume, President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), members of both the Congressional Black Caucus and of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Olga Vives, Vice-President of the National Organization of Women (NOW), Tom Keegel, General Secretary-Treasurer of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), Bruce Raynor, President of UNITE, and other civil rights leaders. They called upon the federal government to quickly investigate workers' charges.

Clayola Brown, International Vice-President of UNITE and NAACP Board Member remarked, “The managers of this company have tried to preserve high paying jobs on the production floor for men, they have tried to reserve the higher paying delivery jobs for whites and they have tried to keep the ranks of their officers and executives as an exclusive club devoid of women and minorities.”

Sandra Evans, a Cintas worker from Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania charged, “I was hired to work in the stockroom and a month after I was hired, a white woman was hired to do the same work and Cintas immediately started paying her more than I was making.”

Standing alongside representatives of UNITE and the Teamsters, Kweisi Mfume called on the federal government to immediately investigate the allegations. “This is a company that we believe has profited from hateful practices. We hope the federal government will quickly investigate these charges so that Cintas workers can have some justice.”

UNITE and the IBT filed charges along with current and former Cintas employees alleging a pattern of racial and gender based discrimination shunting women and minorities into lower paying positions. The unions are seeking to contact other current and former Cintas employees and have established a website, anda toll-free number 1-800-872-8646 for Cintas workers who believethey have been discriminated against.

Cheryl Johnson, Director of the Teamsters Human Rights Commission commented, “We are bringing Cintas workers together—helping Cintas workers get justice. Together, we can hold this company accountable. We are reaching out to Cintas workers around the country and asking them to join with us in seeking redress against the systemic discrimination of this company.”

Cintas, headquartered in Cincinnati, made more than $2.69 billion in sales and profits of $249 million in fiscal 2003. In February 2003, Cintas employees in the United States and Canada began organizing with UNITE and the Teamsters in order to improve working conditions and gain respect on the job.

UNITE represents 250,000 members in the U.S. and Canada, including 40,000 members in the laundry industry. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than 1.4 million members throughout North America. UNITE and the Teamsters represent more than 1/3 of workers in the uniform and laundry industry.