Dirty Secrets of the Laundry Industry

Abstract

While most New Yorkers recognize the thousands of storefront laundromats scattered across the city that offer drop-off washing or dry-cleaning services as well as coin-operated machines, few may be familiar with larger corporate-owned commercial laundromats, to whom these services are increasingly being contracted. Many of us have likely used a sheet or table cloth cleaned in a commercial laundry, which typically provides services for hotels, hospitals, restaurants, and neighborhood laundromats that outsource their laundry. Despite occasional media attention to some of the most tragic incidents, the plight of laundry workers has gone largely unnoticed. The lack of public scrutiny combined with patchy regulation and enforcement has meant that employers get away with negligence and abuse.