I would like to challenge the students at Wisconsin to take a critical approach to recent accusations about New Era Cap Company. According to some reports, New Era has been accused of being a “union-buster” and “abusing workers’ rights.” As president of New Era, I feel you should know the whole story so that you can make up your own minds.

I will tell you that New Era is most definitely not abusing workers’ rights, that we are not a “union buster” and that we provide good jobs with good pay in a clean and healthy environment.

Allow me to support these statements with some evidence.

New Era is widely recognized as one of the most innovative companies in the apparel industry, having spent more than $1 million over the past three years designing and building equipment that reduces the amount of repetition inherent in sewing tasks. We have put this equipment in all of our facilities. Furthermore, we take our workers’ health seriously. We have a comprehensive health and safety program in place at all facilities, where workers are included in the decision-making process.

As for wages and benefits, we pay our workers some of the highest wages in the apparel industry and far more than workers overseas. We also offer a comprehensive benefit package including high-quality health insurance and an employer-matched 401(K) program.

Make no mistake–sewing ball caps is a tough job that requires skill and good eye-hand coordination. There are always things that can–and should–be done to make the job more comfortable and safe. New Era has made considerable progress in this area and we have invited the Worker Rights’ Consortium to our facility in an effort to have a constructive dialogue.

We are also the very last company to make 90 percent of the caps we sell in the United States, the last major cap maker able to label the vast majority of its merchandise “made-in-USA.”

New Era is also being struck by one of its unions–the Communications Workers of America–over wage issues. As for the “union-busters” label, New Era has had more than 35 negotiating sessions with the CWA, another one of which is scheduled for next week. We have been represented by unions for over 30 years. In fact, we recently signed a contract with our other union in Buffalo, New York, which has not respected the CWA picket line.

We fully believe in the bargaining process and for our employees to choose whom they want to represent them. We have demonstrated our commitment to finding a settlement to the strike at the bargaining table.