Labor rally urges Gillette to protect temps

LAWRENCE -- Labor and religious activists called on the Gillette Co. yesterday to crack down on two firms that package its razors and other products, charging that the subcontractors keep hundreds of migrant workers in low-wage temporary positions for months or even years -- and sometimes don't pay them at all.

Speaking at a rally in Grace Episcopal Church, people who had worked in the packing centers in Devens described how they could be dismissed for the day whenever the work slowed down and how checks were sometimes delayed or records of their work lost. One woman, who recently arrived from Puerto Rico, said her temporary employment agency withheld almost $1,000 in back wages for work at one of the packaging contractors, Markson Rosenthal & Co., until she complained to the attorney general.

''I want justice for the workers, and I want them to stop abusing so many needy people," said former Markson Rosenthal employee Fiordaliza Taveras, 47, to about 150 people at the rally sponsored by the Merrimack Valley Project, a coalition of labor and community groups that is pushing for better protection of temporary employees.

Officials at Boston-based Gillette said the advocates should take their concerns directly to the packaging companies, New Jersey-based Markson Rosenthal and Sonoco of South Carolina. Although the two firms package products for Gillette, a company official said they are independent vendors that make their own labor policies. Officials at the two packaging contractors could not be reached yesterday.

Paul Fox, director of global external relations for Gillette, said his company will investigate any illegal or unethical practices by its contractors if the Merrimack Valley Project provides enough details. ''We expect all our third-party vendors to operate within the law and to operate to the highest standards," Fox said.

The labor dispute centers on packaging facilities at the former Fort Devens military base where Gillette contracted with the two companies to package consumer products. A 2003 article in the trade journal Packaging Digest described the outsourcing move as a cost-saving strategy that gives Gillette more flexibility to customize packaging for retail customers.

But the Merrimack Valley Project says Gillette gets flexibility at the expense of the immigrants from Uruguay, Brazil, Guatemala, and other countries who came to work at Markson Rosenthal or Sonoco though temporary employment agencies. Though some workers said they worked for one of the firms for long periods, they were not offered permanent jobs, received no compensation for on-the-job injuries, and could be dismissed at a moment's notice.

Luz Maria Lara said she worked for three years at Markson Rosenthal through a succession of temporary agencies before she was fired for complaining that checks were late or didn't arrive. ''Every Friday they had a security guard at the agency so that people wouldn't complain about their lost checks," Lara said. Likewise, Ines Roque, a 33-year-old single mother from the Dominican Republic, said that working at the Devens packing facilities was ''the most humiliating experience of my life" because her temporary agency repeatedly failed to pay her.

Fox said the activists didn't give Gillette enough details of the alleged abuses to investigate until recently and, when the company checked with the contractors, they ''had not received any complaints directly from their workforce" about mistreatment. He said Gillette does not condone labor law violations, if they occurred, but he said the company has no policy on contractors' use of temporary workers.

Officials from the Merrimack Valley Project said they have been pressing Gillette for a meeting on the ''perma-temp" issue since last November and staged yesterday's rally after Fox formally declined their request. With Gillette about to be sold to Procter & Gamble, the activists said Gillette should use its clout to make the packaging contractors improve their treatment of workers in Devens.

''At the same time [Gillette] CEO James Kilts stands to make millions of dollars through the sale of the company, Gillette temporary workers are being mistreated," said Annia Lembert, president of the Merrimack Valley Project.

State Senator Susan Tucker, Democrat of Andover, and Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan spoke in support of Lembert's efforts at the rally. ''The intimidation, humiliation, lack of pay, and lack of respect must stop," said Sullivan in an interview.

David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.