At Oceanside, the majority are originally from El Salvador. Under the new contract, Hoy reports, workers will be allowed to take time to resolve immigration matters, including a leave to return to their countries of origin for up to 60 days without losing their job or their seniority. Workers would also be allowed a certain amount of time off work to go to immigration offices when they need to. Preparata reported that workers ratified the contract in voting organized in each of the laundries over a three-day period. From the beginning of negotiations, the laundry bosses resisted the workers' demands for a wage increase.
Laundry workers are among the lowest-paid unionized workers in New York.
The big-business media picked up on the fact that the laundry workers were ready to go the distance to win their contracts. Bruce Raynor, the union's secretary-treasurer, told the Times that 25 laundries had signed the agreement, and that those unionized facilities that didn't sign faced a strike. Workers fought for real union representation in response to low wages, lack of benefits, and poor conditions. They were tired of being exposed to unsanitary conditions while handling bedsheets and other hospital linen. Workers also protested the insulting behavior of supervisors, who would curse them in English, thinking they didn't understand.