Dmarblue
Yuba City,#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Thu, August 30, 2007
With regards to Cintas' "confidential" tipline, it's as confidential as the National Enquirer. I filed a "confidential" report when I worked for the uniform division in California when my route volume was so large it regualrly violated the state restriction of hours worked per day and week for drivers. I recieved a call about 2 weeks later from a VP in Cincinnati who thanked me for the report and promised a confidential resolution and apologized for the situation I was in. Two weeks after that call the General Manager and my Service Manager called me into the conference room after a morning sales meeting and gave me the business, I expected that since I was pretty discontented at their inaction, but I didn't expect the General Manager to rip me for calling the hotline to complain about the situation. The GM had considered firing me (despite sterling numbers and CSI performance), but had decided against it because he liked me. I responded by telling him that he didn't have the gonads to fire me because the moment he did I would have him and the location over a barrel, since my situation was documented and even flagged by the home office. If you work for Cintas and your location is in violation of the law, bypass the tipline and go to the authorities, they'll be more discreet and hit hard while protecting you from retrobution. The overwhelming majority of Cintas' misdeeds are local issues, yes, pressure comes from the home office but the local management calls the specific shots regarding working conditions, commissions, and sales planning. From my experience, incompetent managers who have never run a route are the ones who make illegal and immoral decisions to improve performance since they have no working knowledge of how the business works. It was the case in my situation. For those embracing the union as savior at Cintas, think again, the money at Cintas compared to other companies is better than union shops and look at the volume that most union shops run as opposed to Cintas, in my experience, the Unionized outfits struggle to add volume, while Cintas has constant growth. It's easy to bash Cintas for their misdeeds but the unions play just as dirty. What right did the union have to enter my accounts and lie about thier representing me, and worse of all lying about misconduct that our location was not guilty of. Competitiors are just as guilty at lowballing, bait and switching, and changing terms of agreement unilaterally as Cintas is, the business is that competitive. The location and the individual SSR make the decision to lie and cheat more than the corporate culture do. Other providers have little cause to plead their holiness as their locations, reps, and drivers are just as dirty. The union drive is based on lies and hyperbole. I left Cintas a few years ago but I decided if the union Guido's ever got hold of that place I was gone. The teamsters are dirtier than any greedy corporation. I was raised in a Union family and saw the Teamsters sell out regularly and play illadvised games of "chicken" with the employer, the result. The employer moved out of state and the union sent us a basket of canned goods. Bye, Bye pension, benefits, and job. Until the union realizes it's not 1930 anymore and outiside the insulated world of Government workers it's relevance and influence is waning. Too bad, modern workers need options for representation, but the outmoded, out of touch union is not the answer.