Guess Protest Moves to South Coast Plaza

COSTA MESA —  Nearly 100 garment workers, union members and supporters on Wednesday moved their labor dispute with Guess Inc. from Los Angeles’ gritty garment district to the cool corridors of the South Coast Plaza.

Protesters spilled out of two buses at 11 a.m. and marched inside shouting, waving signs and handing out leaflets. Asked to leave by mall security officers, they later moved outside, then left at 12:15 p.m. No damage or arrests were reported.

The protests were concentrated at the mall’s Guess store and at the Nordstrom and Robinsons-May department stores, major sellers of Guess jeans and casual clothing.

Since last summer, the garment workers union has tried to organize hundreds of workers at Guess, Los Angeles’ biggest apparel company.

The Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees accuses Guess of profiting on goods produced by sweatshop labor. Guess says it tries hard to ensure its contractors comply with labor laws.

Mall retailers found the protest mildly disruptive.

“It kind of rocked our world,” said Bally manager Randall Smith, presiding over a sale on women’s shoes. “It’s pretty calm usually around here in suburbia.”

Paula Korengold, manager of the William Ernest Brown stationery shop, said she had never seen or heard anything like it.

“But we just closed our doors and kept on,” she said.

Union spokeswoman Hillary Horn predicted more such mall protests. She said big retailers “ought to be responsible for the conditions under which apparel is made because they are profiting from it.”

Nordstrom spokeswoman Paula Stanley said the company requires contractors to comply with wage and hour laws. She said Nordstrom has spoken with the U.S. Labor Department and Guess and is satisfied that Guess is using third parties to check its contractors, as the Labor Department wanted.

The union’s protest “is an inappropriate way of communicating with Nordstrom,” Stanley said.

Guess and Robinsons-May didn’t return calls seeking comment.

In a counterpoint to the mall protest, Guess employees picketed in support of the company Wednesday outside its annual shareholders meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel hotel in Dana Point.

Earlier this month, more than 150 Guess employees staged a street demonstration against the union in Los Angeles. The union says the company is orchestrating the demonstrations as part of its “union-busting” campaign.