Meeting to Address Alleged Abuses by Stores

Public officials and community groups will gather for a community forum Saturday at the Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley, where they will discuss a supermarket chain’s alleged mistreatment of workers.

The meeting is being sponsored by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 in Los Angeles. About 100 workers have complained to the union on alleged abuses by Grupo Gigante, said Rene Castro, the union’s organizing coordinator.

Castro said employees have complained of low wages, intimidation and lack of promised benefits. Several former and current Gigante employees will discuss their experiences at the forum, he said.

“[Gigante] promised to bring good jobs and hire from the community and be a positive contribution, and all it has done is embarrass itself by the way it has treated employees,” Castro said. The company plans to open a store in Arleta in October.

Stephen Chavez of the public relations firm Valencia, Perez, Echeveste in Pasadena, which represents the supermarket, says Gigante offers employees competitive wages and benefits.

“We are not anti-union, we are pro employee--whether [workers] want to go to a union or not,” Chavez said.

Gigante, which is based in Mexico City, opened its first California store in Pico Rivera in May. About 150 people work at the supermarket, which has been the target of protests and picketing since it opened.

The forum is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon at the Boys & Girls Club, 11251 Glenoaks Blvd. U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar), Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar) and City Councilman Alex Padilla are expected to attend.