STANTON : Union Flyers Anger New Store’s Owners

Unionized electricians, plumbers and other workers have been handing out leaflets in front of the recently opened Smith’s Food & Drug store on Katella Avenue and Beach Boulevard, to the anger of the Utah-based chain and dismay of some city officials.

The leaflets charge that Smith’s stores were found guilty of misleading price advertisements in Arizona and of health code violations in Nevada.

“They’re really trying to attack the emotions of the customer,” said Shelley Thomas, a Smith’s executive. She said the claims are taken out of context and are unfair. Just inside the door to Smith’s, employees have been handing out a flyer that rebuts the union literature.

The union leaflets are part of a campaign against Smith’s by the Building and Construction Trades Council of California, which complains that Smith’s builds its stores using non-union labor.

“Our beef is that we’re not being treated fairly by this organization that is moving into California,” said Mike Potts, a leader at the union group. Smith’s has recently built four stores in Orange County--in Fullerton, Yorba Linda, Garden Grove and Stanton.

Stanton Mayor Sal Sapien said he would like to avoid a labor dispute at the store, which was opened with much fanfare on Aug. 17.

“I certainly do not want to have any damage done to Smith’s or any other of our commercial centers,” Sapien said. “I’d like to see if I could work as a liaison between” the union and Smith’s.

But outgoing Councilman David John Shawver said he is unhappy that the non-union workers were used in the store’s construction.

The store’s attorneys obtained a temporary restraining order on Nov. 20, keeping the union members from “aggressively approaching customers.” Attorneys will appear in court Dec. 9 to obtain an injunction, Thomas said.

Earlier this week, the union members quietly handed out leaflets to passersby. Potts denied that they have ever been aggressive.

Thomas said Smith’s accepted union bids for the construction of the Stanton store, but they were $1 million more expensive than the $3.2 million bid by other contractors who used a mix of union and non-union labor.

“We would have to raise our prices, or lay people off” in order to pay union prices, Thomas said.

But Potts said the unions don’t think lower construction wages are fair. “You can lower just about any (construction) price if you’re willing to lower it on the back of the working people,” he said.