Laundry Workers Win Back Their Jobs

Media Advisory
Tuesday, October 26, 2010                                                                 646-448-6402

Laundry Workers Win Back Their Jobs

NLRB orders Jung Sun Laundry to reinstate 100 union members
Workers could be eligible for $1 million+ in back pay

NEW YORK -One hundred laundry workers, who were fired after participating in a legal demonstration, won their yearlong battle when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered Jung Sun, an industrial laundry in Queens, to reinstate them.  The workers, who are members of the Workers United, SEIU, Laundry Dry Cleaning and Allied Workers Joint Board, participated in a brief protest following the Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend in 2009.

On Friday, October 26, the NLRB issued its ruling finding the workers were illegally denied reinstatement by Jung Sung, a company that was a habitual violator of its contract with the workers' union, failing to pay health care contributions, and racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.  Additionally, the NLRB ordered full back pay with interest for the workers, which could amount to more than a million and a half dollars. Jung Sun will also have to pay all its missed health care contributions, and workers' health care expenses resulting from their benefits being suspended.

Ironically, the Jung Sun laundry provides services to some of the most luxurious hotels in the city, yet workers at the plant struggle to get their employer to pay health care contributions.  As part of their ongoing campaign for jobs with justice, the workers will rally tomorrow (Wednesday) across the street from the Mandarin Hotel, one of the hotels that depend on these workers to clean their linens and other laundry.

WHO:            Jung Sun Laundry Workers and Supporters

WHAT:          Rally for Jobs with Justice

WHEN:          Wednesday, October 27, 2010 at Noon

WHERE:       Columbus Circle and 60^th Street (at Central Park, across from the Mandarin Hotel in New York)

Workers have been leafleting the hotel since the labor dispute began; they ask that the hotel find out why its laundry provider continues to hurt workers. At the rally workers will celebrate their victory and renew their request that the Mandarin stand with them and question Jung Sun's illegal actions against its own workers.

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