Almost two weeks ago, a large contingent of low-wage workers were joined by community activists and labor supporters to stand outside in the frigid, sub-zero weather, huddle together and yell at the side of a hospital.
Such extreme conditions seem to make a bad setting for a rally, what with the concerns about frostbite and hypothermia, but astoundingly, many of these workers found this situation only slightly less uncomfortable and unsafe than the place where they log well over 40 hours each week for the reward of an average wage of $8 per hour.
The event was organized by Madison's chapter of UNITE HERE!—the union that represents hotel, restaurant and apparel workers—and was calling for the leaders of St. Mary's hospital to demand fair labor practices from their launderer, Superior Health Linens. For almost a year, Superior Health Linens has undergone intense public scrutiny for work conditions that would make one think they were operating someplace in Honduras, and not on Madison's south side.
The outrageous treatment and unsanitary conditions at the Syene Road plant that has been revealed in the testimony of workers is difficult to even conceptualize, impossible to justify and far too disturbing to ignore.
This explains why Dr. Frank Byrne, CEO of St. Mary's, has refused to meet with workers to better understand their concerns, and to hear first-hand accounts of how management at Superior Health Linens constantly berates and threatens workers, requires overtime shifts with no more than 10 minutes of notice, won't allow pregnant workers to leave for pre-natal care appointments, intently regulates employee restroom use and is openly hostile and aggressive toward any employee trying to form a union.
Reports of employee abuse even include a pregnant worker who was told to finish her shift after her water broke, and other employees who have not been allowed to leave to seek medical treatment after being poked by hypodermic needles.
From a sanitation standpoint, reports indicate that tables and various equipment aren't properly cleaned and that sheets coming out of dryers are put into carts that had immediately before contained various hospital garb covered in vomit, blood or urine.
These alarming claims of unjust treatment and negligent sanitation are more founded than simple accusation and speculation. Last spring, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Superior for four blood-borne pathogen violations, and in September, the National Labor Relations Board found evidence to substantiate 21 unfair labor claims for legal actions. Superior settled with both OSHA and the NLRB.
These confirmed injustices have inspired some Superior clients, such as Dane County, to further investigate the operation of the Syene Road plant. County Board Chair Scott McDonell met with numerous Superior workers, and later led the County to change contracts to a union laundry service in Madison called Aramark.
St. Mary's has ordered its own audit of the conditions at Superior Health Linens, but at this point has not released their findings, nor have they made any public acknowledgement that they're considering options for a more socially responsible laundry contract.
As the single largest contract held by Superior Health Linens, St. Mary's hospital finds itself in a unique position to bring basic components of social justice to almost 100 people asking for nothing more than a fair wage and a safe place to work.
Every time St. Mary's sends payment to Superior Health Linens for services offered they are indirectly endorsing the methods through which those services were performed.
St. Mary's cannot claim to be unaware of this situation or their stake in its continuance, and now find themselves facing two options: they can blithely allow a sweatshop to operate in Madison with the desperate claim that it's not their fault, or they can spend a little bit more on laundry in exchange for greater safety for both patients and Superior employees.
The hospital's logo is a cute, Valentine's Day-shaped heart. Given its current antipathy to these poor workers, that logo is a cruelly ironic joke. St. Mary's, we call on you to have a heart!
