Korean Groceries Targeted by Immigrant Labor Organization
By DEBORAH BELGUM
Staff Reporter
In another effort by unions to organize immigrant workers, employees at four Koreatown supermarket chains are trying to unionize as many as 700 employees.
The first campaign involves the Assi Super Market at 3525 W. 8th St., which has 160 employees. Immigrant Workers Union officials said it would next target stores owned by California Market, Han Kook/Galleria and Hannam.
On Nov. 15, workers presented Assi owner Daniel Seung Chul Lee a recognition agreement for him to sign so that the workers could be represented by the union in contract negotiations.
“Despite the fact the market is doing extremely well, the workers are only paid the state minimum wage, which only comes to $1,000 a month gross. Workers say that is not enough to live on,” said Paul Lee (no relation to Daniel Lee), a union organizer.
Workers claim that after years of work, they are still only getting paid $6.25 an hour. They have no health benefits, no job security and no vacation pay. They also say they are verbally mistreated, being called “dirty names” in Korean.
Daniel Lee was not available for comment. But his attorney, Barry Silver, said it is not unusual for new employees to receive minimum-wage salaries. Employees who have been there longer, he said, get better wages.
“That is not uncharacteristic of the grocery store business,” Silver explained. He also said he wasn’t aware of any verbal abuse. He said there might be misunderstandings because more than 50 percent of the employees are Latino and don’t speak Korean.
The attorney said Lee would not be signing the recognition agreement. Instead he is awaiting the results of a National Labor Relations Board hearing on Nov. 29 to decide whether enough employees have signed a petition favoring unionization. If the NLRB approves the petition, an election can be held. If the employees vote for a union, then contract negotiations can begin.
In recent years, immigrant grocery store workers have gotten more sophisticated about their rights and have looked toward unions to help them.
