Conditions in an Industrial Container Services facility locker room before workers unionized.  

Teamsters Local 117 has published a new website that exposes Mauser Packaging Solutions, Inc. and its subsidiary Industrial Container Services (ICS) for the company’s poor track record in the areas of labor, environment, and public health. On April 14, Mauser imposed a brutal lockout on a group of 20 Teamsters who refurbish steel barrels at its ICS facility in Seattle.

“With the lockout in Seattle, Mauser’s dismal treatment of workers is well-documented,” said Paul Dascher, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117. “The public may be less aware of Mauser’s history of polluting the environment and damaging public health in communities across the country. We encourage anyone who cares about ethical business practices and corporate accountability to learn more at www.MauserPackagingMisery.com.”

The website documents how foul-smelling emissions from Mauser’s BWAY facility near a Chicago high school may have sickened students, and it cites the company’s OSHA violations after an employee suffered an amputation at a Mauser facility in New Jersey.

Emission plume near Little Village Lawndale High School from a Mauser facility in Chicago.

In Seattle, workers are dealing with the possible loss of their health insurance coverage as the Mauser lockout enters its fourth week. Mauser terminated the workers’ benefits at midnight on April 30. “I suffer from diabetes,” said Efrain Juarez, a 23-year employee at Mauser’s ICS facility. “With the lockout, I may lose my health insurance and won’t be able to afford the cost of my insulin."

Mauser/ICS has faced intense pressure from NGOs, faith-based groups, elected officials, labor unions, and environmental organizations to clean up its act. Hundreds have signed an online petition urging the company to negotiate an end to the lockout, and many have condemned the company for unscrupulous business practices.

On April 22, Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien rallied with locked out workers, calling on Mauser to end its shameless union busting and return to the bargaining table in good faith. “When a multinational bully like Mauser tries to break our union and crush working people, the Teamsters don’t stand by — we fight back with everything we’ve got,” O’Brien said.

The Mauser lockout has entered its fourth week with no end in sight. 

With no end to the lockout in sight, Teamsters Local 117 vows to support workers until they have a fair contract. “We will continue to fight until justice is served for workers ruthlessly locked out by Mauser, and we will expose the company for any wrongdoing,” Dascher said. “Mauser can’t hide from its disgraceful record. The public needs to know.”