On June 2, Central Coast residents and business owners gathered outside Doc Burnstein’s Ice Cream Lab in the village of Arroyo Grande to show their support of owner Greg Steinberg in a counter-protest against a union’s ongoing “bannering” of the business.
The group of more than 100 people then marched several blocks to stand outside the headquarters of Carpenter’s Local 1800, the union chapter behind the banner.
Shouts of “Leave our village!” and “Talk to us!” came from the crowd, but in the end, no one came out to address the demands. In fact, over the course of seven months, Steinberg said no one from the union has returned his calls.
The situation began in November 2009, when people began holding up a large banner with the words “Labor Dispute” and “Shame On Doc Burnstein’s” across the street from the ice cream shop in Arroyo Grande. The business’ apparent crime: using non-union carpenters at the shop’s new space in the Santa Maria Town Center mall.
There’s a catch, however. Steinberg had nothing to do with the construction at the mall, which was all handled by mall management.
That fact didn’t seem to matter to the Camarillo-based carpenters union. The phone number listed on the flyers handed out by the bannerers go to Arroyo Grande-based Local 1800. Neither office has ever returned a call to Steinberg, he said. The Sun faced the same problem.
And now, Steinberg said, he doesn’t foresee Doc’s moving into the mall. That possibility, Steinberg wants everyone to know, had “absolutely nothing to do with the union situation.”
So could it be time for the banner to come down?
Nope.
When Steinberger told union business reps he didn’t foresee moving into the mall, he said a rep, who wouldn’t give his name, told him he needed to put that in writing.
Putting it in writing, Steinberger explained, is the one thing he doesn’t want to do right now because of his current lease agreement with the mall owner and an ongoing legal back-and-forth with mall management.
“I don’t want to put anything in writing that says I’m not going to fulfill on my lease,” he explained.
Doc’s vice president, Marie Cavaletto, said she’s disgusted by the implications of the flyers being handed out by the union, which feature a rat gnawing on an American flag.
“It’s defamation of character. A rat eating an American flag? Greg is a veteran,” she said.
Steinberger said he’s been told by multiple people to sue the union for slander.
“My biggest concern is that if I sue them, their lawyers can come back and do whatever kind of legal maneuvering, and if I don’t respond, by default, I have to pay their legal fees,” he said. “So I could either pay $10,000 to my lawyer to answer their legal moves, or be stuck paying their lawyers fees. They could basically crush me in a court of law with fees.”
Adding to his frustration is the fact that not only is he getting no reply from the union, but his complaints to the National Labor Relations Board have gone unanswered for the past seven months.
“For two years, the board has been short two members, so they weren’t even making decisions,” he lamented.
Steinberg’s weariness with the whole situation is evident. For a guy who just wants to make ice cream, the entire ordeal has crossed the line into the surreal.
“I’m honestly completely out of ideas,” he said.
This article appears in Jun 10-17, 2010.