New Era Meeting With WRC 'Productive'; Company Calls for Objective Review.

Sports Editors, Baseball Writers & Columnists

DERBY, N.Y.--(BW SportsWire)--April 18, 2002

New Era Cap Company held a productive meeting Tuesday with, and at the request of, the Worker Rights Consortium.

The company presented the WRC and university representatives with a detailed 900-page report responding to WRC's request for information and provided a tour of its Derby, New York facility.

"The answers and documents we supplied to the WRC - along with the open tour of our facility - demonstrate that we are a well run company, an excellent employer and shows our commitment to meet or exceed WRC's code of conduct," said President Chris Koch. "Now that the WRC has had a chance to see for themselves what we are all about, we hope they will take an objective view of the evidence we presented and make an informed decision."

New Era is an 82-year-old maker of high quality ball caps, supplying Major League Baseball with all its caps. Unlike the vast majority of other apparel manufacturers, New Era makes 90 percent of its caps in the U.S. and is the last American company capable of supplying domestically produced caps to major professional and college sports teams.

The meeting with the WRC is part of an ongoing process that began in February when the company supplied the WRC with a written response to its initial questions. The WRC then requested additional information, which led to the meeting and the issuance of the 900-page report. New Era views the meeting as a positive step that should move both sides toward a more constructive relationship.

The WRC's mandate is to ensure that companies licensed to do business with colleges and universities are meeting a certain "code of conduct" that includes providing a healthy and safe workplace, respecting employees' rights. New Era meets all of these criteria, and has provided concrete evidence that dispels the assertions made in a preliminary WRC report, which the company has strongly rejected.

"The goal of the WRC is laudable," said Koch. "What we hope can happen from here is that the WRC will work with us on a forward-going basis to make our good working environment even better."

Over the past few years, New Era has spent in excess of $1 million dollars to upgrade equipment, automate processes, install safety mechanisms and implement health and safety programs at all its facilities, which are recognized as being state of the art in the apparel industry.

As part of New Era's ongoing ergonomics program, the company is in its third year of a State of New York grant researching and implementing an innovative ergonomics program that focuses on employee education and behavioral changes to reduce repetitive stress injuries.

This month, for the fourth consecutive year, the company is being recognized at one of its Alabama production facilities for not having a single lost time injury. This facility, located in Demopolis, Alabama, is one of the largest sewing facilities in a state that has lost scores of apparel manufacturing jobs due to cheap foreign labor.

New Era has invited independent auditors into all of its facilities to verify its safe working conditions and fair labor practices. That audit gave the company a good review on both counts, and high marks for New Era's health and safety plan and its history of correcting problems as soon as they arose.

New Era also pays its 1,500 workers some of the highest wages in the garment industry during a time when large apparel manufacturers are closing factories and moving American jobs overseas to countries where labor is significantly cheaper.