300 Protest Terms of Price Pfister Layoffs

Carrying palm leaves and picket signs, about 300 protesters met outside the Price Pfister Co. plant in Pacoima on Palm Sunday to show support for workers who were recently laid off by the prominent faucet maker.

The protesters claimed the company refused to offer adequate compensation to the employees who lost their jobs when the company transferred some of its local manufacturing operations to Mexico.

“Some people have spent 20 to 25 years of their lives here,” said protester Adrian Gomez, who helped organize the demonstration. “We will continue to fight for just compensation.”

Company officials could not be reached Sunday for comment.

A year ago, Price Pfister officials announced they were expanding their manufacturing operations in Mexico because the firm’s plants there were more modern than those in Pacoima. The newer plants in Mexicali, they said, could turn out faucets that conform to tighter restrictions on lead content in consumer goods.

Since that announcement, about 275 hourly workers have been laid off in Pacoima.

On Sunday, the protesters, who were mostly Latino, gathered in front of the plant to hear Mass before starting out on a five-mile march that ended in Ritchie Valens Park.

Using bullhorns and loudspeakers, the demonstrators shouted slogans in English and Spanish as they walked down the sidewalks along Van Nuys Boulevard.

“I’m here because my heart is with my people,” said Jose Pimentel, a Price Pfister employee for 18 years. “I still have my job, but I must support my fellow workers who have lost theirs.”