Dueling Messages About Workers' Rights Outside Walnut Creek's Fresh & Easy

Shoppers trying out the new Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in Ygnacio Plaza have encountered some pro-union folks standing at the front entrance, handing out fliers that accuse the British-based store of unfair labor practices. 

Fresh & Easy is countering this informational picket by stationing an employee or two outside the door as well and having those employees hand out brochures that tell the store's side of the story. 

A Walnut Creek man shopping in the store, which opened to large crowds on March 23, said he was sympathetic to people's right to unionize and fight for fair work conditions. 

On the other hand, Patrick Johnstone was eager to try out Walnut Creek's newest grocery store and to sample some of the packaged meals that are said to be made with fresh, healthy ingredients.

He said his sympathy for union concerns would not stop him from shopping at Fresh & Easy or at other Walnut Creek grocery stores that do not employ union workers. Those stores include Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. 

Johnstone, who has worked in the food industry, added he wasn't surprised to see pro-union representatives outside Fresh & Easy, saying new non-union grocery stores typically are targeted by union workers. 

Indeed, Fresh & Easy stores have been sites for similar demonstrations since it began opening shops in Southern California in 2007, according to the San Francisco Business Times. 

More recently, reports say, other new Northern California stores have been targets for informational pickets, including the new Fresh & Easy in Modesto.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union are not happy that British supermarket giant Tesco PLC decided to go non-union in stores it opened in the the United States. Workers at Fresh & Easy stores in the United Kingdom are represented by employee unions.

"All Fresh & Easy employees deserve the right to form a union, if they choose, free from intimidation and fear," reads the flier handed out to shoppers at the Walnut Creek store on Friday and Saturday.

One of the union representatives said his organization planned to continue to demonstrate in front of the store for the foreseeable future — "until Fresh & Easy changes its mind."

The National Labor Relations Board found that Fresh & Easy violated fair labor practices by "maintaining an overbroad no-solicitation rule, interrogating employees and creating an impression of surveillance," according to the Labor Relations Council website. The case before the board involved one of the company's stores in Las Vegas.  However, the board dismissed claims that employees were unlawfully discharged for engaging in protected activity. 

In 2007, the lack of union affiliation did not stop 1,000 people from applying for 170 positions at six stores in the Los Angeles area, the Business Times reported.

The lack of union affiliation did not seem to be a big turn-off for potential customers at the Walnut Creek store Friday and Saturday. People were seen stopping to listen to what the UFCW demonstrators had to say and even taking their fliers. But the people would walk into the store anyway. 

However, UFCW demonstrator Edward Leske said he and his colleagues did manage to get a number of shoppers to decide to go elsewhere Friday. He would not say how many, but he showed me a piece of paper with a count of shoppers turned away and the numbers appeared to be in the dozens.

"The community is responding," he said.

Fresh & Easy's store manager referred questions about his company's position to a spokesman in Southern California, but he said the flier his employees were handing out to customers pretty much sums up their message. 

First of all, the Fresh & Easy flier apologized for "any inconvenience union protesters may have caused."

The flier states these protesters are not "our employees" and are working for the UFCW.  

"We've told the UFCW that this is a decision [to unionize] only our employees can make," the flier reads. "They have not made this choice."

Fresh & Easy also said it offers good, comprehensive, affordable benefits to workers.  Moreover, the company is proud of hiring from local communities, buying food, especially produce, from local suppliers and of being "part of the neighborhood." The flier noted Fresh & Easy's commitment to local schools.

"So far, Fresh & Easy has given more than $800,000 for Shop for Schools," the flier reads.