



Cintas alleges that, for the last five years, UNITE HERE and the other labor organizations have carried on a campaign of negative, untrue and unlawful attacks against Cintas in an effort to extort concessions from the company that would enable UNITE HERE and the Teamsters to become the official bargaining representatives for Cintas employees without those employees ever being able to freely decide whether they want a union and if so, which union. The company has long maintained that such rights belong to each individual employee, and has continually reiterated its commitments to protect its employees’ rights.
The RICO complaint further alleges that UNITE HERE’s and the other labor organizations’ conduct is and continues to be, a campaign of extortion which includes interference with Cintas’s existing and prospective business relationships, deliberate attacks to artificially depress the value of Cintas’s stock, and other unlawful conduct.
The New York lawsuit also includes several claims against UNITE HERE for violation of Cintas’s trademark rights, including improper use of Cintas’s trade name and trademark in various websites designed to further the unions’ extortion and reputation-destruction campaign.
The defamation claim details a 2004 news release issued by UNITE HERE – which was intentionally made to appear to have been issued by the U.S. government – accusing the company of “widespread and major” labor law violations. The union later acknowledged that the NLRB played no role in the issuance of the press release.
(businesswire.com)