John Pittman, 53, delivery driver for Milum Textile Services, delivers clean linens to Pastiche Modern Eatery. The Phoenix-based laundry service, which is non-unionized, was cited for several violations, but Pastiche owner Pat Connors stands by the company.

LIndsay A. Miller / Arizona Daily Star

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Four years ago, organized labor counted no Arizona members at commercial linen services, which launder tablecloths for restaurants and wash sheets for hospitals and hotels.

Today, labor union Unite Here represents 60 percent of Arizona workers in the industry — about 1,200 of 2,000 total — and wants to unionize the rest, said Daisy Pitkin, Arizona coordinator for Unite Here.

The union's growth has changed the landscape of the commercial-linen service industry in Arizona, not only for employees and employers, but for the companies they serve, which now face a choice between union and nonunion linen suppliers.

That choice came into view last week when U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Pima County Board of Supervisors Chairman Richard Elías publicly urged support for a campaign to unionize Arizona laundry workers.

The union has helped improve safety and benefits for laundry workers in the state, Pitkin said. However, its current unionizing campaign has drawn objections from the owner of a Phoenix laundry whose customers include a number of Tucson restaurants.

Craig Milum, CEO of Milum Textile Services Co. in Phoenix, said the union has distributed false or misleading information about his business to his workers and customers.

"Unions try to make an employer to look bad during a campaign," Milum said. "The worse the company looks, the meaner they look, the more uncaring they look, the more it looks like they need a union."

Milum Textile Services' customers in Tucson include Sam Fox, owner of Fox Restaurant Concepts, with seven restaurants here.

The choice between a union or nonunion business matters less than finding a quality vendor, Fox said.

"We want the best for our vendors (and) guests and believe everyone should have a nice, safe work environment," Fox said. "If they (Milum) do unionize, fine. ... If it drives up costs, we'd review our contracts and probably look at other linen companies. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

The commercial-linen service industry in Arizona consists of about 10 major companies, most of which have headquarters outside Arizona and operate regionally or nationally, Milum said.

About 60 workers at Mission Linen Supply's Tucson plant joined a union in 2002, making them Arizona's first unionized employees at a commercial-linen service, Pit-kin said. Since then, more than half of the state's linen- service workers have followed suit.

Mission Linen Supply, headquartered in Santa Barbara, Calif., did not return calls seeking comment.

Union: Laundry dirty, a hazard

Unite Here's efforts have resulted in a slight pay increase for its union workers, who also now are covered by a pension plan, Pitkin said.

The union has helped workers advocate for safer, more sanitary conditions at the laundries, Pitkin said.

"It's dirty and dangerous," Pitkin said. "They aren't well-paid. They don't have benefits."

Denise Knox, who works for Milum Textile Services in Phoenix, said at a meeting in Tucson last week she makes $7.60 an hour to sort sheets. Hospital sheets sometimes contain blood, syringes and maggots, she said. Knox is involved with efforts to unionize at Milum, saying the union could help workers be better trained and better equipped to deal with potential health hazards.

"We could have the proper stuff to use to deal with the contamination that is in the linen," Knox said.

Laundry fined for conditions

The state Division of Occupational Safety and Health fined Milum Textile Services $2,500 after an inspection in April found five of what the state classified as "serious" violations of health and safety rules.

Following the violations, Unite Here said Milum Textile Services' restaurant linens may be exposed to blood and bacteria from health care linens. State regulators made no such finding.

Milum, in a letter to Rep. Grijalva, said restaurant linens and health-care linens do not mix at his business, and anyone who says otherwise is "either ill-informed or intentionally making false statements."

Unite Here's workers in Arizona don't necessarily make more than nonunion counterparts, Milum said. Milum Textile Services pays $7.60 an hour, he said, while employees at some union laundries make as little as $6.

The union exists primarily as a marketing entity, he said, that's more interested in signing up workers than in helping them improve their workplaces.

Among laundry owners, the view is that "Unite's not doing any good for the employees and it's kind of a sham," Milum said.

Milum Textile Services has not lost any customers during the current union campaign, Milum said.

Milum's Tucson clients include Pat Connors, co-owner of Pastiche Modern Eatery & Pastiche Wine Shop, 3025 N. Campbell Ave.

Connors and Fox, of Fox Restaurant Concepts, said they arranged unannounced tours and site inspections of the Milum operations in Phoenix earlier this year.

"I'm completely confident with the way linens are being handled. We've have never had issues with Milum," said Connors, who plans to keep a five-year contract with the company.

Citing biweekly deliveries to Pastiche, Connors said linens arrive "totally clean, and neatly wrapped."

"We want customers to know that we have done our homework and are providing great service and products," Connors said.