The more things change…New Era Cap, long time maker of baseball caps (sold worldwide) is heavy-handedly employing anti-union scare tactics against New Era workers in Mobile, AL. The workers recently formed a union to combat poverty wages, racial discrimination, sexism, and other related issues.
As a former consumer of New Era Caps, I encourage you to participate in the fight against this type of workplace inequality — the Union Voice is leading an email and fax charge against New Era and several of the company’s client organizations, including the Boston Red Sox, are included in the contact list.
Please take a moment and participate. It is time to raise the level of awareness about New Era Cap. It is time to ensure that the same-ol’ does not remain that way.
New Era Cap, a family-owned company deeply invested in American manufacturing, urges students and the Teamsters Union to examine facts surrounding the company’s ongoing negotiations.
New Era issued the following in response to rallies organized by the Teamsters Union in Alabama:
o New Era is the only major cap manufacturer making headwear in the United States and employs approximately 1,500 Americans in its four U.S. facilities
o Eighty-one percent of New Era’s Alabama workforce are African-American and 39 percent of the administrators and managers at the three plants are minorities
o New Era’s Mobile facility has not received one discrimination complaint since 2005; no complaints have been filed at the company’s three Alabama plants in the last two years; and the two complaints filed earlier with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission were dismissed without merit
o New Era spent the last five years working in concert with its labor union, the Fair Labor Association and the university community to demonstrate its commitment to abide by and embrace the codes of conduct
o New Era has excellent labor relations with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) at its Derby, New York, facility and the two were joint recipients of Cornell University’s “Champions @Work” award, in recognition of the ongoing cooperative relationship
o Since 2003, New Era has maintained a highest approval rating with the FLA
o New Era conducts annual, third-party, unannounced audits of its facilities
o New Era offers a compensation and benefit package above the average for the industry and above the median for Alabama
o Employment at New Era’s Alabama facilities includes a full array of benefits including health insurance, company contributions to a 401k plan, bonus program, company paid life insurance and employee perks like discounts, sports reimbursement and gifts
o To date, 20 negotiation sessions with the Teamsters have occurred
Dana, ‘preciate the bullet-points on the current action(s) underway at New Era Cap. When was this data released? Is it now available for public consumption via the website?
As the corporate communications manager for New Era Cap — would you be the correct person to contact regarding any follow-up or discussion on these particular points?
Regarding the Mobile, AL. facility in particular — you noted there have been no discrimination claims since 2005 (the Union Voice, however, notes that New Era Cap workers in the Mobile, AL. facility have formed a new union?)
Can you briefly address that particular situation that is going on there? My assumption is that the union was formed as a way to protect themselves, but, also to address any scenarios (that may be pending).
Again, ‘preciate you commenting here — I think that speaks to what New Era Cap hopes to stand for in this space they have dominated for nearly a century.
The fact that they proudly put the fact that although 89% of their factory workers are African American yet only 39% of their administrative staff are minorities sends up red flags for me.
Red Flag 1 - Why announce that the workers are African American yet in the second part of the sentence use the term minority? That’s because they are including other races such as Chinese, Hispanic and Indian (to name a few)in that minority tag. Which leads me to ask why didn’t they specify the percentage of African Americans in that “administrative and managerial” percentile???
Red Flag-2 Even with the 39 percent I’m alarmed. Do they not have qualified African Americans applying for those upper level jobs? Do they even provide training so that one could rise up from factory worker to white-collar skilled worker?
Red Flag 3- 2005 was not that long ago. Someone could have filed a discrimination complaint in December of 05 and that’s still not that long ago. The fact that they have been the target of discriminatory investigations also leads me to believe that something is just not right here.
and my last red flag is the fact that the workers are also speaking out about specific charges :
the majority of whom are black and female, were being passed over for promotion and were paid less than white workers. New Era was even disciplining single mothers when they took time to bring their children to the doctor.
The first part of that quote I addressed in my red flags above and were even upheld by the comment New Era left. Yet they did not address the issues facing the single mothers. Given the magnitude of unskilled, single mothers, working in factories like these, this is a huge issue.
I’m rooting for the workers. I could care less what “management” has to say!
I have a sinking feeling she won’t be coming back to comment. Copy, paste, run.
FWIW, I believe Dana is African-American.
A corporate communications manager cannot speak for the workers/employees. She speaks for the corporation (that is her title). It is probably not a coincidence that she avoids discussing some of the more inflammatory claims. I think the real experts here are the workers–and I trust them. Why would they make this up?
Highly recommend that you write a letter or print out this blog post and send to the company in care of Dana and also find out the name of the person who is in charge of Human Resources and CEO. Send to everyone!! Usually paper speaks volumes even in this digital age!
Thanks for sharing!