Grocery Workers Union Sues O.C. Register Over Ad

A grocery workers union in Buena Park has filed a lawsuit against the owner of the Orange County Register, accusing the newspaper of breaching a contract by pulling an ad critical of Super Kmart.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 324 alleges in its suit, filed late Friday in Orange County Superior Court, that the Register canceled an agreement to run the union’s ad this month in two of the newspaper’s community weeklies, La Habra Star and Anaheim Hills News. The suit was filed against Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc., the Register’s parent company.

The union placed the ad as part of its campaign against Orange County’s two new non-union Super Kmart stores, which sell more food items than regular Kmarts do. The full-page ad depicts several people waiting in line and makes several statements under a title that reads: “Super Kmart means Super Hassle!”

The ad appeared twice in November.

Ron Redfern, senior vice president of advertiser marketing at the Register, said the newspaper pulled the ad because it was disparaging to another business, its statements could not be verified, and the ad did not identify its origin. “In an advocacy ad, we always require the identity of the ad placer,” he said.

Redfern acknowledged that the ad ran twice in November, but he said that was because its content was not properly screened: “It didn’t get the review it should have.”

Union spokesman Rick Eiden said Monday that the Register notified the union Dec. 1 that the ad would not run that day or anymore because it was considered “offensive” by newspaper management. Eiden contended that the newspaper had been pressured by Kmart Corp. to stop the union’s ad.

In its suit, the union is asking for damages in excess of $25,000 plus an order to prevent the Register from refusing the union’s ad.

Last month, the union and other labor coalitions rallied at the grand opening of the Super Kmart in La Habra, saying that the big merchandise and supermarket center was paying substandard wages and would put other store owners out of business.

Redfern said Kmart had nothing to do with the decision to pull the ad, which the union paid $3,176.42 to run four times in December.

Teri Kula, a spokeswoman for Kmart at its headquarters in Troy, Mich., said Monday that she was unaware of the lawsuit. However, she said, “it certainly would not be our policy to restrict any advertisement.”