By ALFREDO ALVARADO

Some $1.6 million worth of new equipment won by Local 420 has transformed the ancient Brooklyn Central Laundry into a state-of-the art facility.

When the Giuliani administration tried to close BCL in 1998, eliminate 200 jobs and hand the work to a private firm, the union fought back. The two-year battle built pressure through rallies, prayer services, political action, negotiations and legal actions until City Hall agreed to keep the laundry open and upgrade its machinery.

"These machines are a lot better and faster," said Louie Torres, a Senior Laundry Worker and union member. "The old machines weren't reliable, they were always breaking down."

"Brooklyn Central Laundry is alive and well," said James Butler, president of Local 420. "It's been a huge victory because everyone has been involved in this struggle. The union and the community fought together."

The 20-year-old facility in East Flatbush handles up to 19,000 pounds a day of soiled linens and hospital uniforms from the Health and Hospitals Corp. The second floor of the modernized laundry now boasts five huge, shiny dryers, about 40 feet long, divided into 15 compartments. Each compartment can handle 1,000 pounds of laundry. The new dryers are computerized and can dry the sheets in 10 minutes.

The new equipment also includes six machines called edges, which press, folds and count bed linen. These machines handle 4,000-5,000 sheets daily.

"These new machines are a big improvement," said Senior Laundry Worker Cynthia Layne, a 16-year veteran. " That's because on these new ones you can control the sheets better yourself." In addition to bed linen and blankets, the laundry also presses doctors' white coats on a brand new unipress machine.

The laundry now also has a huge batch washer that can scrub 1,000 pounds of laundry. Another new machine folds blankets that the workers previously folded by hand.

After the attacks on the World Trade Center, the BCL was also responsible for cleaning another 300-400 pounds every other day of uniforms from the fire and police departments and other Ground Zero rescue workers.

The agreement that saved BCL in 2000, provided for half of HHC's dirty laundry to be cleaned by the Angelica Textile Services company in New Jersey. With the new equipment on line, a yearlong comparison study of costs and services at BCL and Angelica is scheduled to begin soon.

"If they judge us on quality and speed we'll beat anybody," said Patsy Carter, vice chair of Local 420's BCL Chapter.

"It doesn't matter if there's a hurricane, a snowstorm or whatever," said confident Chapter Chair Hulie White Jr. "Our workers here are ready to show them we can get the job done under any conditions."