Well, as Gomer Pyle said,
”
Surprise!, surprise!, surprise!
”
The unions are suing the city of Gilroy over the Wal-Mart
Supercenter approval.
Well, as Gomer Pyle said, “Surprise!, surprise!, surprise!” The unions are suing the city of Gilroy over the Wal-Mart Supercenter approval.
Gilroyans – and their tax dollars – are pawns in a larger, high-stakes game being played by union activists. The lawsuit filed by union activists contesting the approval of a Gilroy Wal-Mart Supercenter is a prime example of that.
The lawsuit claims that the city failed to adequately review the project’s environmental and economic impacts. These dubious claims, if proven in a court of law, will not stop the Wal-Mart Supercenter from opening in Gilroy; they will only delay it. The union activists behind the suit know that. The lawsuit is an attempt to delay the opening of the store, to make it as expensive as possible and to intimidate any other business that would dare to go against union doctrine.
Unions representing grocery store workers are desperate that Wal-Mart not have a presence in Northern California should negotiations for their contract, which expires on Sept. 11, turn nasty like they did in Southern California. There, a months-long strike caused shoppers to look for alternatives to crossing a raucous picket line in order to pick up a loaf of bread and gallon of milk.
If non-union Wal-Mart Supercenters become an option for consumers, the union strikers lose a lot of their negotiating power.
But that’s not the only way the unions are using Gilroyans as pawns. They’re also using the city as a blueprint on how to fight Wal-Mart Supercenters in other parts of Northern California. The retailing giant wants to open supercenters in other Northern California cities, and the unions want to make it as expensive and difficult a process as possible. Because Gilroy is the first city to approve a Wal-Mart Supercenter, we’re the “guinea pig” for opponents.
Finally, this lawsuit makes Gilroy a pawn in a battle that has nothing to do with groceries: It is also a warning shot to Glen Loma Group, which has plans for a 1,400-home master planned community. Union attorneys have filed a 200-page protest of the planned development.
That protest was filed after Glen Loma Group’s John Filice refused to sign a binding labor agreement to guarantee exclusivity to union labor. Over the years, Glen Loma has used plenty of union laborers while building homes, but not all. The unions wants it all. Guaranteed, regardless of cost or quality.
Gilroyans, not out-of-town labor attorneys, should control Gilroy’s destiny. Last fall’s City Council election, was, in large measure, a referendum on a Wal-Mart Supercenter. In an election that featured the Wal-Mart Supercenter as a top issue, Gilroyans elected a pro-business majority to council. The only pro-union candidate to earn a seat, Paul Correa, barely squeaked by a pro-business candidate with a narrow 70-vote margin.
Wal-Mart Supercenter has gone through the processes established by the city. The store’s plans have been reviewed by city staff, by the Planning Commission and by City Council. The store has been approved.
Anyone who doesn’t like Wal-Mart doesn’t have to shop there. And there are plenty of Gilroyans who won’t.
But the point is that this suit is a shameful misuse of the legal system and an attempt to subvert the will of Gilroyans. Using the city as a pawn in the unions’ game will not earn organized labor any favor here. Instead, Gilroyans will watch in disgust as their tax dollars are spent fighting this frivolous, mean-spirited litigation.
Gilroyans and their leaders, following the proper channels, have decided that a Wal-Mart Supercenter can locate here. The unions need to accept that “defeat.” Gilroy has more important issues to focus on.
