National Clothesline

By Bill Bogus

Environmentalists and the South Coast Air Quality percolators were boiling over with militant determination to ban perc in Southern California, regardless of what would happen to perc-using drycleaners.

Banning doesn’t solve problems. It causes problems because it does not respond to the important word “why” that finds solutions. Banning is an act of regression, a movement backward.

Science, research and technology are the methods that find solutions for problems. To ban perc without justifiable reasons is a flagrant attitude that circumvents the truth that perc can be used in a safe, contained environment regulated by science and technology.

Today, perc is not being used in a hazardous manner. People are not choking from air pollution caused by perc fumes. Thanks to science and technology, perc is not a health hazard for the drycleaners, their employees or the people they serve because drycleaners abide by the rules as prescribed by technology, the government and the knowledge administered by the International Fabricare Institute.

IFI is the watchful eye for any pollution problems that may occur in the drycleaning industry. It is also alert to problems that drycleaners receive from outside sources, such as groups that try to discredit the industry with false accusations. Two such occurrences happened — one in Southern California and another in Chicago. This could be the beginning of a trend.

To fend off the possibility of false accusations, Bill Fisher, IFI’s CEO, and Jon Meijer, IFI’s membership director, took immediate action. Jon Meijer made a plane trip to the West Coast, under adverse weather conditions, as he was determined to help his many drycleaning friends and concerned associations to prevent the South Coast Air Quality Management people from enacting the ban. It was a concerted effort and the ban was put on hold. Bill Fisher did the same work in Chicago.

For those drycleaners who don’t participate and don’t belong to any drycleaning association, you should take notice of the National Clothesline editorial “It’s time to stop enjoying the free ride.” And it’s also time for the full-time loners to become active in building a strong drycleaning industry.

William Faulkner, the novelist, gave us a reminder message that we should not forget nor become a full-time loner. He said, “The best things come, as a general thing, from the talents that are members of a group; every man works better when he has companions working in the same line and yielding to the stimulus of suggestions and comparison. The solitary worker loses the profit of example and discussion and he is apt to make awkward experiments.”

Drycleaners learn skills better and more quickly from others who have the knowledge of the skills wanted. IFI has the knowledge of drycleaning skills, is respected by the government and is highly respected by drycleaners of other countries. This prestigious honor didn’t come by illusion or self acclamation; it came by accomplishments. What is IFI membership worth? It’s worth more than your yearly dues. It fights for your existence and your worthiness as a drycleaner