Labor Pains: Because Being in a Union can be Painful

San Diego Union Boss Faces Damning Allegations

Screen Shot 2013-08-08 at 3.16Meet Mickey Kasparian. In December, Mr. Kasparian—the president of the San Diego-based United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 135—was sued by two former female employees. One of them alleged that the union boss pressured her into an ongoing sexual relationship. The other claimed that Kasparian fired her after she was incorrectly suspected of being “on the wrong side of a political issue.” Here’s how The San Diego Union-Tribune put it:

“In their two separate complaints against United Food and Commercial Workers Local 135 and union president Mickey Kasparian, two women described a workplace where the labor leader intimidated employees to the point where they were too scared to complain. Four additional women who did not sue but also worked for the union gave similar descriptions of their time working under Kasparian. The former employees who have sued, Isabel Vasquez and Sandy Naranjo, are being represented by attorney Dan Gilleon…”

It gets worse:

“Through the course of [Vasquez’s] employment, Kasparian, who was elected the union’s president in 2003, would occasionally demand oral sex in his office as well as sex in hotel rooms paid for by the union and in his car outside of union events, according to her lawsuit.”

Not surprisingly, Kasparian vehemently denied the accusations.

Now there’s more. In a story published over the weekend, the Union-Tribune explains that “four other ex-employees came forward to accuse their former boss of various workplace misdeeds.” The highlights:

“They claim he regularly yelled at employees and told them who they could not be friends with, and that they were fearful of speaking up lest they be summarily fired. They described Kasparian as ‘paranoid,’ as ‘obsessive,’ and as a ‘dictator.'”

Dictator Kasparian has some explaining to do.

Categories: Crime & CorruptionUFCWViolence