Union Stages Nordstrom Demonstrations in 6 Cities

A union’s prolonged war with the Nordstrom department store chain in Washington state spilled into Los Angeles, San Diego and three other cities Thursday, with demonstrations intended to pressure Nordstrom into signing a new labor contract.

The negative publicity campaign, coordinated by the international office of the 1.3-million-member United Food and Commercial Workers Union, was timed to make a dent in Nordstrom’s holiday sales.

The old contract between UFCW Local 1001 and six Nordstrom stores in the Seattle-Tacoma area expired in mid-1989. Since then, the two sides have been unable to come to terms on a new pact.

For the past year, Local 1001 has accused Nordstrom of encouraging sales associates to perform many of the chain’s famed customer-service activities on their own time. Since the workers are paid by the hour, such practices would be illegal. Washington state labor officials have sided with the union, and many workers have confirmed the allegations in interviews with newspaper reporters.

The Seattle-Tacoma area is the only part of the country in which the 63-store chain’s sales associates are unionized. Thursday’s demonstrations were held at the Nordstrom stores in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and Tysons Corner, Va.

In San Diego, a rally sponsored by UF&CL; Local 135 drew about 75 people to Nordstrom’s Fashion Valley store, according to Local 135 President Tom Vandeveld.

At the rally, one former Nordstrom employee from San Diego “complained about the fact that the company still (forces employees) to work off the clock,” said Vandeveld.

“Our purpose was to bring attention to the fact that the off-the-clock business is still going on even though (Nordstrom executives) claimed they won’t be doing it anymore,” Vandeveld said.

While some Nordstrom employees elsewhere in the country are represented by unions, Local 135 does not represent any San Diego-based employees of the store, Vandeveld said. “We’ve had inquiries (from employees), and it seems to me there’s a lot of dissatisfaction,” he said. “But we’ve not made any attempt to organize” in San Diego.

A Nordstrom spokesman said persistent union criticism of the store is an unfair attack on the company’s “entrepreneurial environment,” in which successful sales associates can earn substantial commissions.

A group of Nordstrom employees in Washington state who are opposed to union representation have mounted a campaign to decertify Local 1001. However, that effort was stalled earlier this year when the union complained to the National Labor Relations Board that Nordstrom was illegally assisting the employees.

Nordstrom last month agreed in a settlement with the NLRB to refrain from showing preferential treatment to employees involved in the decertification campaign.

Times staff writer Greg Johnson in San Diego contributed to this article.