NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa will call on Major League Baseball to intervene with New Era Cap to end discrimination and worker rights violations in the company's Mobile, AL distribution center. New Era is MLB's exclusive on-field cap manufacturer and licensor.
The NAACP says an investigation at the Mobile facility revealed a lack of promotion of experienced black workers; poverty-level wages with significant differences in pay between black and white workers; and a fierce, retaliatory anti-union campaign, in the course of which more than 20 workers were terminated.
New Era, earlier in the week, issued a statement in response to rallies organized by the Teamsters Union in Alabama, which is trying to negotiate its first contract at New Era's 100-job warehouse. New Era noted that 81% of its Alabama workforce are African-American; its Mobile facility has not received a discrimination complaint since 2005; and, no complaints have been filed at the company's three Alabama plants in the last two years.
“We are working in good faith to reach a contract agreement at the bargaining table,” said Tim Freer, human resources VP, New Era Cap. “Instead of trying to work through legitimate contract issues in an appropriate way, the Teamsters have turned to PR tactics and stagecraft. We believe that if the Teamsters were to put as much effort into contract negotiations as they are into organizing rallies and media events, we would be able to reach an agreement in a reasonable time frame.”
