A superior court judge yesterday handed Wal-Mart a victory in
its legal battle with union workers, ruling that the city did not
violate environmental guidelines in approving a Wal-Mart
Supercenter for Pacheco Pass Center.
A superior court judge yesterday handed Wal-Mart a victory in its legal battle with union workers, ruling that the city did not violate environmental guidelines in approving a Wal-Mart Supercenter for Pacheco Pass Center.
Although several supercenters have been proposed throughout Northern California, the only one to garner approval is in Gilroy.
“The court finds that the City of Gilroy did not engage in any prejudicial abuse of discretion,” wrote Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Leslie C. Nichols. “The city proceeded in a manner required by law, and its determination or decision is supported by substantial evidence.”
The judge framed his decision in a one-page order issued Monday afternoon, following an hour and a quarter of oral presentations on Friday. The case was preceded by months of legal briefings and documentation and “thousands of pages of documents,” according to Acting City Attorney Andy Faber.
“It’s a flat-out win,” he said.
Union workers filed the lawsuit in early May, claiming the city violated various portions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in its approval of a supercenter proposal by the retail giant.
Unions around the country have fought the entry of Wal-Mart into local communities, at times focusing on environmental issues as a means to block new stores.
Wal-Mart opponents liken supercenters to an A-bomb for other grocery chains. Opponents claim Wal-Mart Supercenters use predatory pricing, underpay their workers and provide scant benefits to keep prices always low. Unions representing grocery store workers are desperate that Wal-Mart not have a presence in Northern California should negotiations for their contract 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.
William Kopper, the attorney representing local members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, declined to comment on the decision until he read it, but spoke about the motivations of his clients.
“They’re concerned that if a super Wal-Mart goes in it’ll do what super Wal-Mart does throughout the country – that is, when it goes in, regular supermarkets close,” he said. “My clients realize that Wal-Mart is going to be able to sell groceries at 20 to 30 percent less because their labor costs are so much less. They believe that what Wal-Mart does is substitute lower paying jobs for higher paying jobs. They’ve done it in other industries and they’re probably going to do it in the grocery industry in the state as well.”
Wal-Mart’s plans for the new store call for a 220,000 square-foot store on a 20-acre lot. In addition to its regular discount offerings, the supercenter would sell groceries and offer oil and lube jobs at the supercenter.
