Labor Coalition Opposes Super Kmarts : Workplace: The two new non-union O.C. stores hurt small businesses, group contends.

The opening of Super Kmart Centers in Anaheim and La Habra this week is drawing a negative response from a small group of local union members.

Super Kmart officials have said that the two stores, each about twice the size of a typical Kmart, are generating more than 1,500 jobs in Orange County.

But the Organizing Public Awareness Coalition, arguing that the megastores will squelch small businesses in the area, said Friday that it will boycott the stores and will urge other local residents to do the same.

Rick Eiden, chairman of the coalition, said Friday that Kmart, a non-union chain of discount department stores, provides only 32% of its employees with benefits and pays salaries that are just barely above the minimum wage.

Unionized grocery stores, by contrast, pay $15.15 an hour and provide health benefits, he said.

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“Some people have spent their lives supporting the union to maintain decent wages and a good standard of living,” said Eiden, who is director of organizing for the United Food and Commercial Workers’ Union. “Now they’re replacing our good-paying jobs with substandard jobs. That’s exploitative.”

Phil Woodhouse, director of the La Habra Super Kmart, said that isn’t true. Though he would not reveal what his store’s workers will be paid, he maintained that “our wages are competitive in the industry.”

Officials in La Habra have been touting the arrival of that city’s Super Kmart for more than a year, describing it as the largest store in town. City Manager Lee Risner said the store has hired 250 full-time employees and 600 part-time workers. More than 70% of those new hires, he said, live in La Habra. In Anaheim, about 700 full- and part-time jobs will be created.

Both Orange County stores opened this week and have grand opening ceremonies scheduled for Sunday. The La Habra center has appeared to be doing a brisk business, Risner said.

Super Kmart officials project that the store will have annual sales of $70 million, he said, and “that means a large addition to our tax base.”

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The union’s sentiments echo those of groups across the nation that have sprung up to protest the opening of Wal-Mart stores. Fierce opposition against the Arkansas-based discounting giant has arisen, especially in small towns in the South and Midwest, where local merchants contend that they are being underpriced and driven out of business.

The Super Kmart concept was launched two years ago by Troy, Mich.-based Kmart Corp. in part to counter Wal-Mart’s aggressive expansion. The company now has 67 Super Kmarts nationwide.

The stores, each about three times the size of a football field, include not only conventional department-store merchandise but also hair salons, automotive departments and full-service grocery markets.

The coalition supporting the boycott includes members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the United Auto Workers, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and environmentalists against aggressive development, Eiden said.

The group has sent out more than 100,000 flyers and bought newspaper and TV ads denouncing the megastore, he said.