Disturbing news

[YoungTulsan]

Illegals are undocumented, thus having numerical statistics on them is nearly impossible.   There are only rough estimates available, and no one could say how close those estimates are.  You'd have to interview apartment managers, home lenders, etc to get an idea of how many are packed into what places.  Some apartments are pretty blatant about it, with spanish banners out front.

I've even seen it personally where it was apparent to me that a large family of hispanic ethnicity was living in unused office space.  How much unused office space is there in Tulsa?

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by Double A

Cintas was warned to install preventative measures to prevent just this type of accident in 2005 according to news reports. Illegal Immigration could play a role in this(if so, it makes this tragedy even more corrupt), but I think Right to Work is what really is to blame for this tragedy. BTW, anybody remember John Pickle Company?

Shame on us for allowing these companies to conduct business in this fashion in our backyards.

So far as I know, Cintas was never a union shop, so I don't get the connection.  Care to explain?

Labor, Omnia, Vincit.  You aren't the least bit biased about right to work are ya, AA? []

[YoungTulsan]

There's nothing wrong with demanding safe working conditions, and a guy dieing in a giant dryer is a pretty good reason to bring the issue up IMO.

[cannon_fodder]

Double AA - are you saying that Cintas is a slave shop now?  Wow, I'll have to ask my Cintas rep about that when he comes in next.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by YoungTulsan

There's nothing wrong with demanding safe working conditions, and a guy dieing in a giant dryer is a pretty good reason to bring the issue up IMO.

Safe working conditions are primarily an OSHA issue and I fail to understand how right to work would have made one iota's difference in this plant since it was never unionized, to my knowledge.  As well, belonging to a union is no guarantee you won't suffer debilitating injuries or be killed on the job.  There are plenty of industrial accidents in unionized plants all over the country every year.  

All the safeguards in a plant still can't compensate for indifference to one's own personal safety, lack of common sense, or just plain stupidity.  Safety devices are but a component to work place safety.  Improper decisions and actions are more often the cause of work place accidents than failure of safety equipment.

[YoungTulsan]

Then you must either A) Not employ low pay low skill workers in an area with deadly equipment, or B) Require there to be a supervisor visually monitoring the low skilled workers manning the deadly machines at all times.

This particular incident sounds like the poor guy was there by himself with a deadly industrial dryer, which shouldn't happen if it is a low skilled legal American citizen or a low skilled illegal immigrant.  It sucks that people have to be forced to protect their employees lives but when someone dies like this, obviously they need a little more pressure.

I'm just talking on a basic level here, I don't see how Right To Work has anything to do with it.  Just sayin what I'm sayin, no agenda here.

[sauerkraut]

I may be a bit old fashioned, but I think immigration status does matter. first if the laws were enforced that person never would of been working at that company in the first place, second it's unlikely an illegal could read & understand warming signs and notices posted by machines since it's all in English. We need to secure our borders. Illegals need to be  rounded up and shiped back. We are a nation of laws. As for PC terms how about calling an illegal "Undocumted law breaker" and that's not including the false I.D and stolen/fake SS numbers that are used to get jobs and credit and cars. That's a big reason why I.D theft is so high these days. Seal our borders!

[Double A]

Federal Court Rejects Policy On Employee Talk
AP - 3/16/2007 8:00 PM - Updated 3/16/2007 8:12 PM

CINCINNATI (AP) A federal appeals court Friday rejects a Cintas Corporation policy, saying it violates employees' rights to discuss working conditions at the nation's largest uniform supply company.

The company says it has some 32,000 employees in 350 facilities across North America, including 15 manufacturing plants and seven distribution centers. One of the company's facilities is in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a National Labor Relations Board conclusion that a company handbook policy violated federal labor protections.

A message for comment was left at Cintas' Cincinnati headquarters. The company could appeal the ruling.

The labor group Unite Here, which has been trying to organize Cintas workers, says the policy chilled workers' ability to form a union.

[deinstein]

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

I may be a bit old fashioned, but I think immigration status does matter. first if the laws were enforced that person never would of been working at that company in the first place, second it's unlikely an illegal could read & understand warming signs and notices posted by machines since it's all in English. We need to secure our borders. Illegals need to be  rounded up and shiped back. We are a nation of laws. As for PC terms how about calling an illegal "Undocumted law breaker" and that's not including the false I.D and stolen/fake SS numbers that are used to get jobs and credit and cars. That's a big reason why I.D theft is so high these days. Seal our borders!

This is the thinking that has put us in the situation we are currently in.

How about...make it easier to gain work permits, advocate for better education of immigrants to learn English as their second language and stop thinking they are costing us money when in reality our policies are making it impossible for them to give in revenue they currently aren't but should be.

[Rico]

quote:Originally posted by Double A

Federal Court Rejects Policy On Employee Talk
AP - 3/16/2007 8:00 PM - Updated 3/16/2007 8:12 PM

CINCINNATI (AP) A federal appeals court Friday rejects a Cintas Corporation policy, saying it violates employees' rights to discuss working conditions at the nation's largest uniform supply company.

The company says it has some 32,000 employees in 350 facilities across North America, including 15 manufacturing plants and seven distribution centers. One of the company's facilities is in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a National Labor Relations Board conclusion that a company handbook policy violated federal labor protections.

A message for comment was left at Cintas' Cincinnati headquarters. The company could appeal the ruling.

The labor group Unite Here, which has been trying to organize Cintas workers, says the policy chilled workers' ability to form a union.

A little bit of an update on this situation..

Unions seek investigation of worker's death
16 March 2007

TULSA, Okla. - UNITE HERE and the Teamsters are demanding federal agencies investigate and maybe prosecute Cintas on criminal charges after a worker for the firm, the largest launderer of industrial uniforms, was killed in Tulsa, Okla.

The unions said Eleazar Torres-Gomez was pronounced dead on the scene March 6 at the Cintas plant after apparently being dragged by a conveyor into an industrial dryer. Torres-Gomez was trapped in the dryer, which could be as hot as 300 degrees, for at least 20 minutes.

"This gruesome incident is the second serious injury at a Cintas facility in recent weeks," the job safety and health directors of the two unions added.

The unions are jointly trying to organize the 17,000 workers at Cintas, which is notorious both for rabid anti-unionism and for 170 safety and health violations in the last several years. Minnesota is one of the states where workers are attempting to organize.

If this accident came from a willful company violation of federal job safety and health laws, the unions' job safety directors said, Cintas should be prosecuted.

Written by Press Associates, Inc., news service.

[sauerkraut]

quote:Originally posted by deinstein

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

I may be a bit old fashioned, but I think immigration status does matter. first if the laws were enforced that person never would of been working at that company in the first place, second it's unlikely an illegal could read & understand warming signs and notices posted by machines since it's all in English. We need to secure our borders. Illegals need to be  rounded up and shiped back. We are a nation of laws. As for PC terms how about calling an illegal "Undocumted law breaker" and that's not including the false I.D and stolen/fake SS numbers that are used to get jobs and credit and cars. That's a big reason why I.D theft is so high these days. Seal our borders!

This is the thinking that has put us in the situation we are currently in.

How about...make it easier to gain work permits, advocate for better education of immigrants to learn English as their second language and stop thinking they are costing us money when in reality our policies are making it impossible for them to give in revenue they currently aren't but should be.

Hire LEGAL citizens. Let's seal the border. That's the way to go. illegals take away jobs from citizens and drive down wages for everyone. Enforce our laws.

[deinstein]

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

quote:Originally posted by deinstein

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

I may be a bit old fashioned, but I think immigration status does matter. first if the laws were enforced that person never would of been working at that company in the first place, second it's unlikely an illegal could read & understand warming signs and notices posted by machines since it's all in English. We need to secure our borders. Illegals need to be  rounded up and shiped back. We are a nation of laws. As for PC terms how about calling an illegal "Undocumted law breaker" and that's not including the false I.D and stolen/fake SS numbers that are used to get jobs and credit and cars. That's a big reason why I.D theft is so high these days. Seal our borders!

This is the thinking that has put us in the situation we are currently in.

How about...make it easier to gain work permits, advocate for better education of immigrants to learn English as their second language and stop thinking they are costing us money when in reality our policies are making it impossible for them to give in revenue they currently aren't but should be.

Hire LEGAL citizens. Let's seal the border. That's the way to go. illegals take away jobs from citizens and drive down wages for everyone. Enforce our laws.

Make it easier for work permits and they will be legal. And I don't know if you've ever been to the border with Mexico, but it is sealed more than any border in the world besides Korea. People will come over no matter what. The best answer is to make working permits legal, be proactive about educating them in English and stop being so black and white about the issue.

[Double A]

So  Long, Texas- Hello, Mexico

[okiebybirth]

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

quote:Originally posted by deinstein

quote:Originally posted by sauerkraut

I may be a bit old fashioned, but I think immigration status does matter. first if the laws were enforced that person never would of been working at that company in the first place, second it's unlikely an illegal could read & understand warming signs and notices posted by machines since it's all in English. We need to secure our borders. Illegals need to be  rounded up and shiped back. We are a nation of laws. As for PC terms how about calling an illegal "Undocumted law breaker" and that's not including the false I.D and stolen/fake SS numbers that are used to get jobs and credit and cars. That's a big reason why I.D theft is so high these days. Seal our borders!

This is the thinking that has put us in the situation we are currently in.

How about...make it easier to gain work permits, advocate for better education of immigrants to learn English as their second language and stop thinking they are costing us money when in reality our policies are making it impossible for them to give in revenue they currently aren't but should be.

Hire LEGAL citizens. Let's seal the border. That's the way to go. illegals take away jobs from citizens and drive down wages for everyone. Enforce our laws.

I'm curious how we seal the border?  Do we conscript people to guard the border?  What's the solution to sealing the border?

[RecycleMichael]

I vote we give south Texas back to Mexico. We should keep everything from Austin and north and let him have San Antonio and Houston.