Union Vote Flap is A Question of “Si” Or No for Market

0

Union Vote Flap is A Question of ‘Si’ Or No for Market

Retail

by Deborah Belgum

A vote to unionize immigrant workers at a Koreatown supermarket has been challenged by both sides.

Workers at the Assi Super Market at 3525 W. 8th St. voted on March 9 whether to be represented by the Immigrant Workers Union. The vote was 67 for the union and 67 against, according to union organizer Paul Lee.

But one vote was challenged by the supermarket because it had the word “Si” written on the back of the ballot instead of a checked “yes” or “no” box. The National Labor Relations Board removed that one vote, said NLRB spokesman Tony Bisceglia.

Since then, the labor group has filed 15 challenges, alleging that 14 people who voted were ineligible because they were supervisors. The union also alleged that the market tried to convince workers to vote against the union hours before the election took place even though NLRB regulations prohibit lobbying 24 hours before the vote.

“The union will be filing a number of challenges with the NLRB that there was never a fair election,” said Lee. NLRB officials said they would be looking at the challenges.

The supermarket’s owner, Daniel Seung Chui Lee (no relation to Paul Lee), referred all calls to his attorney, Kevin Kim, who was not available for comment.

The Immigrant Workers Union maintains that many of the laborers at the supermarket are only paid the state minimum wage of $6.75 an hour, have no health benefits or job security. The union is trying to organize workers at three other stores owned by California Market, Han Kook/Galleria, and Hannam.

Puck’s World

Just when you thought Wolfgang Puck and his products were everywhere on land, he pops up at sea.

The celebrity chef already has a weekly cooking show on the Food Network, a line of gourmet cookware he sells on the Home Shopping Network, frozen food products found at grocery stores, a catering service, and several restaurants in Beverly Hills, Malibu, Santa Monica, Chicago, Maui and Las Vegas.

Now his Chinois on Main cuisine is being featured on one of Crystal Cruises’ luxury liners. On board the 940-passenger Crystal Symphony, the cruise line is converting its Jade Garden restaurant into the Chinois at Sea during the line’s around-the-world cruise.

Luis Diaz, the executive chef at Chinois on Main, has trained the culinary staff aboard the ship to prepare many of Puck’s dishes. After the world cruise, five of the Chinois on Main items will remain a fixture on the regular menu.

Sales Director Resurfaces

Rafik Ghazarian, who quit as the downtown Standard Hotel’s director of sales months before the inn is scheduled to open, has been rehired by the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown L.A. “I know a good person when I see one,” said Steve Haller, the Biltmore’s director of sales who brought Ghazarian back on board. Ghazarian is the manager of transient sales.

Staff reporter Deborah Belgum can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 228 or at

[email protected].

No posts to display