TRSA | 7
initiatives. Ricci says TRSA is busy tackling
several legislative priorities. In one case, he
says the association is striving to ensure com-
mercial laundry business can remain com-
petitive in the market place. Ricci cites an
incident involving a laundry which was go-
ing to have to lay off a number of workers
after losing significant business to a compet-
ing force, in this case, the inmates of a prison
system. The TRSA is working for adoption
of measures that will prevent state prisons
from competing against commercial com-
panies whose workforce could be similarly
impacted. Other initiatives have involved
union organizing. For example, under cur-
rent law, employers can prevent unions from
organizing their workplaces unless a secret-
ballot takes place. The rules governing these
elections are meant to ensure neither side
has unfair influence on the outcome. Various
versions of the Employee Free Choice Act
(EFCA) submitted in recent years have at-
tempted to change the rules to favor unions.
EFCA has been temporarily stopped; most
recently, through a binding-arbitration mea-
sure that was included in the Protecting
America’s Workers Act whose passage has
been slowed by Congress. Through its Sen-
ate liaison, Ricci says TRSA helped sideline
EFCA, yet the association continues to re-
main wary of loopholes in current law that
encourages unfair organizing practices.
The Safe Chemical Act is another con-
cern of the TRSA. Under this Senate legisla-
tion, every textile rental services plant could
be recognized as a “processor” of chemicals
simply because it uses detergent. TRSA has
opposed this because member companies
would now be required to provide their cus-
tomer lists to government authorities, elimi-
nating business confidentiality of highly
valuable proprietary information. Ricci says
this scenario couldmaterialize as this bill and
a House companion measure are absorbed
into reform of the Toxic Substances Control
Act.
