COMMERCE : Union Boycotts Stevens Steak House

Labor leaders have called for a boycott of Stevens Steak House, a longtime watering hole for union members, Latino leaders and political activists.

Officials of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union Local 11 mailed 1,300 letters late last month urging supporters not to patronize the restaurant because the owners had withdrawn recognition of the union.

Organizers have passed leaflets about the boycott to customers, and members of several unions picketed the restaurant Thursday.

Stevens had been a union workplace for 30 years, said Local 11 spokeswoman Madeline Janis-Aparicio, and was the city’s only union restaurant.

Responses to the Local 11 mailing indicate that at least six organizations have canceled banquets, and unions from throughout Southern California have pledged to boycott the restaurant. Councilman Richard Alatorre, a frequent customer, is among the Latino leaders who have said they will honor the boycott.

Virginia Filipan, who with her husband James owns the restaurant at 5332 E. Stevens Place, said she withdrew recognition of the union because most of her 40 employees no longer wanted its representation.

The struggle began after the union reached a verbal agreement with Stevens in December, 1992, said Gary Guthman, a negotiator for Local 11. The Filipans delayed signing the contract, using the interim to build anti-labor sentiment among the workers, he said.

But Thomas P. Burke, attorney for the Filipans, said no agreement with the union was reached and denied that Stevens owners plotted to dissolve the union’s presence.

“The union busted the union,” Burke said. “They ignored the employees for so long, they were kicked out.”

In July, workers petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to decertify the union. That request is pending.

Guthman contends that the board requires only 30% of the workers to sign a petition and that the restaurant should allow workers to vote on the union. But in October, Burke sent Local 11 a letter that withdrew recognition of the union.

Local 11 is appealing the labor board’s ruling confirming that the restaurant had not violated an agreement with the union, and has filed additional unfair-labor practice charges.

Guthman said Stevens is now “non-union and they don’t deserve to be supported by people who support unions.”