News Updates
As our local clients may have noticed, to officially welcome us to our new office are picketers holding a very large sign in big red letters which read “SHAME ON LARRABEE MEHLMAN ALBI COKER LLP.” We would like our clients to know the facts behind this matter, as it has nothing to do with LMAC, our employees, or our business practices.
Our firm just moved into a new office, located at 9920 Pacific Heights Blvd., Suite 300, San Diego, CA 92121. The property is owned by RREEF and managed by Transwestern. As part of our lease agreement, the building owners agreed to pay the costs of tenant improvements in the suite. Under the lease, LMAC had absolutely no say in the selection of the construction general contractor or any of the sub-contractors.
It appears that the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local Union No. 1506, is engaged in a labor dispute with Demko Drywall & Heartland Acoustics, the dry wall sub-contractor which was hired by the construction project management company. We do not know the details of the dispute, although based on flyers we have received it appears to deal with wages and payments for health care and pension benefits.
Although the construction in our suite is completed, and although LMAC previously had and currently has no control whatsoever in the selection of sub-contractors and their wages, the Union is targeting our business, implying that we are supporting unfair labor practices. Rather than publicly “shaming” the sub-contractor which is allegedly engaged in unfair labor standards, the construction company which hired them, or even the building managers/owners which hired the construction company, the Union has selected our firm’s name to disparage.
To officially welcome us to our new office, on the corner of Mira Mesa Boulevard and Pacific Heights Boulevard, are picketers holding a very large sign in big red letters which read “SHAME ON LARRABEE MEHLMAN ALBI COKER LLP.” In addition to the sign outside the building, the Union is disseminating flyers which read “Shame on LMAC for Desecration of the American Way of Life.” The flyers bear a cartoon of a rat chewing on an American flag.
We find the Union’s tactics offensive and unjust. It is a blatant misrepresentation, and a very unfortunate use of an innocent business for leverage in the Union’s dispute. We have attempted to contact the Union Business Representative to discuss this matter, but he has failed to return our calls.
LMAC not only supports but aggressively defends fair labor practices. This is evidenced by the wages and benefits provided to our own employees, as well as the nature of our business: the fundamental purpose of our firm is to assure that our clients, U.S. employers, remain in compliance with federal immigration laws and pay the prevailing wages and equitable benefits as required by regulation. For these reasons, we find it especially disheartening that we are being accused of condoning unfair labor practices.
We understand that the Union has selected our business for public embarrassment, with the hope that we would somehow pressure the building management into using a different contractor and/or sub-contractor, which would ultimately pressure the sub-contractor into yielding to its employees’ demands. We do not know the details of the dispute, and therefore we don’t have an opinion regarding whether the Union or the sub-contractor should prevail in their dispute. However, we feel it is unjust for the Union to utilize an innocent business in this manner, and hope they do not use this tactic to target other innocent employers. If they were seeking support for their cause, their tactics have certainly had the opposite effect.
Should anyone have questions regarding this matter, we encourage you to contact one of the partners of LMAC.
Sincerely,
Fausta M. Albi, Sharon R. Mehlman, and Diana Vellos Coker
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