Shoe Manufacturer Vans Inc. Faces Union Vote : Labor: Dispute with the Orange County firm centers on workers’ share of health benefits--which takes a large chunk of their pay.

For the first time in the company’s 28-year history, Orange-based Vans Inc. will watch today as 1,400 manufacturing workers vote on whether to form a union at the largest plant operated by the maker of canvas shoes.

The election is a sign of dissatisfaction among some of the company’s mostly Latino employees, who, the Teamsters union says, cannot afford to pay their share for health benefits.

Union leaders in Southern California are closely watching the bitterly contested election as an test of their ability to organize a growing group of immigrant factory workers, most of them Latino, who in the past have resisted unionization.

Vans is fighting the organizing effort aggressively. Executives say the company cannot afford higher wages and more benefits at a time when shoe sales have been stalled and profits have been eroding.

Increasingly, manufacturing workers in Southern California, especially eager-to-assimilate immigrants, are seeking additional workplace benefits, according to labor leaders.

“There is currently a genuine interest in organizing within the immigrant community, especially Latinos,” said Miguel Caballero, legal director of the California Immigrant Workers Assn., a union-sponsored group in Los Angeles.

“For years, there has been an anti-immigrant bias by some units that saw immigrants used to break strikes or lower wages. But I think unions nationwide are taking a look at their policies.”

The central issue in the Vans election is the workers’ ability to afford the company’s health benefits. The average Vans employee, according to the union, makes about $5.75 an hour and finds the coverage too expensive.

The situation facing Vans’ workers highlights a problem of the working poor in America--a vast majority of whom do not have employer-provided health care either because none is offered or because they find the employee premium contributions are unaffordable.

Vans executives said they are closely watching President Clinton’s health care reform program, which has measures that would require universal coverage.

In recent years, Vans has struggled to retain market share in the highly competitive casual shoe market. For years, it rarely changed the style of its basic sneakers, a staple for many Southern California teen-aged males, especially surfers.

But as worldwide shoe sales dropped, the company announced last year it would introduce new styles and colors--adding a paisley pattern for its women’s shoe line and new canvas shoes that match denim work jackets.

The strategy seems to be working. In March, Vans reported that domestic sales of its shoes jumped 19% from the previous year.

On Wednesday, in front of a Vans shoe plant in the city of Orange, union organizers held a afternoon rally, attracting nearly 30 workers.

Carrying a Teamsters Local 396 sign and waving to honking cars was Filomena Ramirez, 36, who has worked for the company for 14 years as a shoe seamstress.

She said she currently makes $6.50 an hour or about $218 per week and can’t afford the company’s health plan, which would cost $60 each week to cover her and her family. Her sister, Berta Vargas Lopez, 34, also works at the company.

“Yes, we’re afraid we will lose our jobs, but we want to have benefits and we just can’t afford it,” said Ramirez. “I expected better conditions in the United States, but I see now that with the union we can get it.”

Vans’ attorney Craig Gosselin acknowledged that the company’s health care plan is costly for many employees, but said it would be less expensive if more of the workers would join. He said Vans gave a 2.7% across-the-board pay increase to workers in March and pays 60% of the cost of medical coverage for all employees.

“We pay at least 25% higher than minimum wage and these are low-skilled jobs,” Gosselin said. “You’re talking about making shoes. The union is creating a lot of confusion and unrest here. That’s their job, but it’s infuriating. We’ve had to spend a lot of money fighting this because they are confusing people.”

But union supporter Hector Sanchez, a 28-year-old shoe maker, who has worked at the company since 1983, said he is not confused. He said workers are under pressure to produce, that he makes 750 pairs of shoes a day and was recently asked to increase that to 800 pairs.

“We are under so much pressure and if we have a problem there is nobody to help us,” he said. “The company just says if you don’t like this job--the door is over there. Sometimes people cry and don’t say anything if they want to keep their job.”

Gosselin said the company had dropped a plan to step up production, however.

In the Vans plant, at least 10 workers wore “Viva Vans!” buttons with the word union circled and crossed out. They said they supported the company and wanted no part of the union.