Union workers protest at South Coast Plaza

Noaki Schwartz

COSTA MESA -- Taunting shoppers as they ducked into South Coast Plaza,

Carpenter’s Union workers were again protesting the use of nonunion labor

Thursday.

The group of carpenters, who seem to appear en masse at any

construction site in the city that employs nonunion workers, were this

time protesting Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn for Kids.

Behind the whitewashed boards announcing the reopening of the various

stores inside the upscale mall, workers have been quietly refurbishing

the shops. The workers, Carpenter’s Union Local 409 representatives say,

are nonunion, underpaid and do not receive health care benefits.

Costa Mesa police and mall security tried to control the short-lived

protest so that shoppers could slip unshaken into the entrance near

Macy’s.

Customers lunching at nearby Wolfgang Puck’s looked on as the

jeans-clad union protesters were told by police to form two neat lines

while they protested.

“We have to balance legitimate business with freedom of expression,”

said Costa Mesa Police Lt. Ron Smith.

Still, the protest did not end without problems.

Before police organized the workers, a mall security officer

confronted one of the protesters who had a video camera inside the mall,

said James R. Swindell, spokesman for the union.

“He threw him into a wall,” Swindell said. “We were afraid he was

going to have a heart attack.”

Evette Caceres, director of strategic marketing for South Coast Plaza,

said security officers for the mall were trained to stay cool under

intense situations.

“They would never intentionally push anyone,” she said.

Mall security did not return repeated calls for comment.

No arrests were made, Smith said, but the 55-year-old man was rushed

to a hospital to check on his condition.

The Carpenter’s Union has surfaced a number of times around Costa Mesa

and Newport Beach over the years.

Earlier this year, the union staged a large demonstration involving

500 workers at a Newport Center construction site protesting Covi

Concrete Construction, Inc.